KEY POINTS:
On Monday in Hawaii, Vijay Singh won another golf tournament, taking his career earnings to more than $50 million.
On Monday in Auckland, Clarke Osborne practised for three hours and wondered if he had enough money for a planned five-tournament schedule till the end of February. His career earnings after three years as a professional golfer are less than $20,000.
Singh and Osborne could be the poster boys for the top and bottom of the professional game. Thousands try. Few succeed. Yet there are common bonds: Both love the game and their desire to succeed is intense.
Singh's story is classic rags to riches. In previous lives, he was a nightclub bouncer in Scotland and a teaching professional in Borneo. He also invented the work ethic. Before his latest win, he spent each day of the preceding fortnight working out in the gym, hitting 400 balls on the range and playing 18 holes.
Back in Auckland, Osborne is well aware rewards at the top end only come to those prepared to work. His short-term ambitions are, by necessity, modest. He was the highest-placed New Zealander at the Australian Tour qualifying school in Melbourne just before Christmas.
That means he can get a start in the Victorian PGA, the Victorian Open and the New South Wales PGA which each have a total purse of $100,000. More than 250 players have entered each of these second-tier Tour events and, while Osborne is exempt, around 120 players will chase the last 10 places in the field.
Osborne's on-course income since he became a pro in 2004 is below the poverty line. Worse, he's spent $60,000 earning that $20,000.
A Westhaven restaurant, Swashbucklers, gives him modest sponsorship support. Otherwise he's paying for himself, supplementing life as a golfer with occasional work as a postie or a waiter or a tele-marketer. He books travel far in advance to get the cheap air fares and seeks billeted accommodation. He will use public transport and last year slept in his car for a week during a tournament in England.
He dreams of the day when he can play on the main tours. Even at the New Zealand Open, players get rides in courtesy cars. There's a players' lounge with unlimited, and free, food. Such is the irony of pro golf. The more money you make, the less you pay for.
So why does a 26-year-old who has one minor win in Britain as his only tangible success in three years, keep chasing his dream?
"I'll never give up on anything. I really think one day I will be inside the world's top 100 players.
"I've given myself four years from now to do it. But I've got no doubts that I'll make it."
It's estimated that worldwide between 6000-8000 golfers aspire to be tournament professionals. Most will never be successful.
For every Vijay Singh, there are 100 Clarke Osbornes. But the game wouldn't be the same without those who try.
