ESPN Golf Gap between U.S., European golf grows

As more players join the PGA Tour, the gap in the world ranking points swings even more toward America.

The average points awarded to PGA Tour winners in 2014 was 56.42, compared with 42.13 for winners on the European Tour. That includes the four majors, for which the winners automatically get 100 points, and the four World Golf Championships, which averaged 73 points for the winner. Remove those eight events from the equation and the average PGA Tour winner received 49.54 points, compared with 32.54 points in Europe.

The PGA Tour points were a slight increase from 2013, while Europe had a slight decrease.

Except for the BMW PGA Championship (the flagship event in Europe that guarantees 64 points to the winner) and the four final events in the Race to Dubai, the Scottish Open had the strongest field for a regular European Tour event, offering 52 points.

The PGA Tour had eight regular events that offered 52 points or more. The strongest field for a regular event was the Memorial, with 64 points to the winner.

As for the playoffs ... the four FedEx Cup playoff events offered an average of 67.5 points to the winner. Meanwhile, the Final Series in the Race to Dubai offered an average of 54.5 points, and that includes the HSBC Champions, a WGC event.