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You must be joking. ok , I'll give you Stolz, Palmer, Taylor, Hensby & Johnson and I'll take Els, Goosen , Harrington, Jimenez & Sergio or Clarke(you pick) ... oh & everything you own. ROTFL

Hey, I never said they were better, I was just explaining who the 5/6 graduates from the Nationwide Tour were.

I would have to say Europe. I think Europe is tougher becuase they get the bigger players on it. You don't see players like Ernie, Padrig, Clark, Monty or any of their top players playing on the Nationwide Tour. Europe has the benifets that you don't get on the Nationwide Tour. You can't get into the U.S. Open through the Nationwide Tour like you can overseas with The Open. Also you can't gain points for the Ryder Cup team like you can over seas. It seems like the Nationwide Tour could get stronger if they had appearnce fees like the Euro Tour does. Because the Nationwide Tour seems more like punishment where the European Tour seems more like an option.

After the Ryder Cup, the vote should be which is tougher, USPGA or European Tour? Most of the Internarional palyers play on both.

Week in and week out, the PGA Tour has tougher fields than the European Tour. But for that one week every two years the Euros get together as a team and kick our tails. It doesn't mean their tour is tougher, or even that they are better players. It's just not our format I guess..

So you can understand why Europeans are insulted by the suggestion that the USA second tour is worthy of comparison to the Ryder Cup holders tour.........

I mentioned this before but....18 holes of team Match Play isn't a very good barometer to judge the respective strength of the PGA and European Tours. It wasn't when the American team was dominating the Ryder Cup, and it's not now that the tables have been turned.

I can see debating the European Tour vs Nationwide Tour but the PGA Tour consists of the best 125 players in the world. Sure some European Tour players play the PGA Tour, but that's only the top guys. When matched top to bottom the PGA Tour has no equal.

I agrre with most of you in believing that there is better talent on the European tour. Perhaps not much, but it is there. People like Ernie, the proven veterans, ar the one's who make the difference.

I agreee that the PGA Tour is the tougher Tour, however it manifestly is not consisting of the best 125 golfers. Even if you check the world ranking which is insanely biased towards PGA Tour events, there are loads of European Tour players in the top 125.

Personally, I like the guys like Els, Goosen, Garcia etc who approach the game as if there was a World Tour. If more of the top US players had the same open-mindedness, golf would be an even greater game.

On the subject of the feeder tours (Nationwide) - it is interesting that a few European Tour players occasionally play Challenge tour events - Darren Clarke played one in Ireland recently...

That was my point. The top European's PGA Tour membership (the card holding 125) make the PGA Tour the best tour in the world, by far. The same as the European Tour would be the top tour in the world if it's top 125 members included the top ranked American players.

Which European players are currently ranked in the top 125 in the World Golf Rankings and are not current PGA Tour members?

Padraig Harrington, for a start. MA Jimenez has given up on the US Tour for lifestyle reasons, Lee Westwood is not a member AFAIK. Add a few more of the Ryder Cup side (Levet, Howell), Brian Davis, there are quite a few.

And although a lot of Euro Tour players have PGA cards, they still regard the European Tour as the home tour.

Another record breaking season for European Tour Members reached a new high with confirmation that no fewer than 20 have earned places in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.


And the Nationwide Tour has how many?

Definitely the European Tour as they still have many top players on the PGA Tour who play their tour. Nationwide might have some really good players, but these are still the ones that miss making the PGA Tour, and they don't play enough top notch courses anyway. Very few have gone on to do really well on PGA unlike European players.

I think there are factors other than world rankings that need to be taken into account.

I have enjoyed watching the nationwide tour but sometimes it gets a bit sameish.

One of the main things that attracts me to the european tour is the variety of courses and locations.... from Scotland to China to South Africa.