Much has been written and is about to be written about the European Tour's "Race to Dubai" - the system which used to be called, and still essentially is, the Order of Merit.
An exciting finish is in prospect with the top five of Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, new World Match Play champion Ross Fisher and Paul Casey separated by less than £265,000.
That might sound a lot, but first prize in China this week is more than £722,000 and at the race-ending Dubai World Championship in two weeks' time it is almost £765,000.
And now an extra ingredient is about to be added.
Tiger Woods can influence the outcome this week because he heads the field for the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.
But the world number one can actually do more than influence matters, he could be the unofficial money list winner himself.
And if he does it would be for a staggering ninth time in 11 years.
Woods has never been a member of the European Tour and so his name has never appeared on the Order of Merit.
But what a difference it would make if he was put on it regardless.
If that had been the case from the moment he turned professional, Colin Montgomerie would have only six Order of Merit titles instead of eight, Lee Westwood would still be trying to win it for the first time and Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose and Robert Karlsson would all have finished second rather than first.
Amazingly Karlsson would have failed to top the table last year, a year when Woods stopped playing in June to have knee surgery.
The Swede accumulated £2.17million from 23 events, Woods earned just over £20,000 more from five.
He won the Dubai Desert Classic, the WGC-Accenture Match Play and the US Open, was second in The Masters and fifth at the WGC-CA Championship.
The only player in the past decade who has been a true leading money winner in Europe was Ernie Els in both 2003 and 2004.
So far this year Woods has picked up £1.89million from seven Tour starts. That would put him fourth on the current standings and he has not just one, but two chances to finish top again because he is also competing in next week's Australian Masters, a late addition to the "Race to Dubai".
Woods' record in European Tour events is truly phenomenal. He has played 95 times, won 37 of them and had 72 top-10 finishes.
In money terms his £28million are almost £7million more than official leading money-winner Colin Montgomerie. And Monty has played more than 500 tournaments.
Here is how Woods has compared to each season's official number one:
1999 - Colin Montgomerie £1.3million (20 events), Woods £2.0million (7)
2000 - Lee Westwood £1.9million (23), Woods £2.8million (9)
2001 - Retief Goosen £1.7million (23), Woods £2.0million (9)
2002 - Retief Goosen £1.5million (22), Woods £2.9million (8)
2003 - Ernie Els £2.0million (16), Woods £1.7million (8)
2004 - Ernie Els £2.8million (15), Woods £1.3million (8)
2005 - Colin Montgomerie £1.8million (25), Woods £3.3million (7)
2006 - Padraig Harrington £1.6million (20), Woods £3.5million (10)
2007 - Justin Rose £2.0million (12), Woods £3.1million (9)
2008 - Robert Karlsson £2.17million (23), Woods £2.19million (5)
2009 - Lee Westwood £2.0million (23), Woods £1.8million (7)
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It is not a mistake that Italian Edoardo Molinari appears at ninth place on one of Europe's two Ryder Cup points lists and his better-known brother Francesco ninth on the other.
Edoardo is not even a full European Tour member at the moment, but he has finished top of the Challenge Tour and the world ranking points gathered there count towards the Ryder Cup.
His last five finishes have been sixth, first, second, first and then seventh last week at the Grand Final in his home country.
Francesco, who celebrates his 27th birthday this coming Sunday and is the younger of the two, was runner-up to Lee Westwood in the Portugal Masters three weeks ago.
Only 39 places now separate them on the world rankings. Francesco is 45th and on course for a Masters debut next April and Edoardo, who played at Augusta as US amateur champion in 2006, stands 84th.
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Last week's Singapore Open will be remembered for Ian Poulter getting back to winning ways, but Thai golfer Somkiat Srisanga will be trying to forget it as quickly as possible.
The 35-year-old, who finished in the top 10 last year, withdrew after playing just six holes in 13 over par. That included an opening hole eight and then a 10.
Srisanga's previous two rounds on the European Tour at the Ballantine's Championship in Korea in April were 89 and 87.
His profile on the Asian Tour website states that "he often embarks on a carefree attitude on the golf course." Maybe it is time for a different approach.
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