A player's existence on the American tour is utterly related to a number.

Anyone finishing inside the top 125 players qualifies to play the majority of events the following season.

The extra spots - fields are roughly 150 each week - come from players who have made it through the tour school, the Nationwide Tour (the equivalent of the minor leagues where the top 25 players earn a main tour card) and players who may have fallen outside the 125 but have ‘status' earned by winning events that carry multi-year exemptions.

When Steve Elkington won the Players Championship, for the second time, in 1997 he earned the holiest of exemptions - one that lasted 10 years. For a decade he was freed of an obligation to make the top 125 and how wonderful it must be to bathe in that serenity.

Of course, he was one of the best players in the world and for many of those 10 seasons he was miles inside the mark. Inevitably, though, players slip as they get older, lose motivation, find other interests and at some point the ride finishes and their place is taken by an eager and much younger player. It is how the tour renews itself.

Elkington still swings as elegantly as ever but in 2009 he finished 183rd on the money list and, having fallen outside the top 50 career money earners (another exemption category that a player may use once only), he had effectively lost his playing rights.

Remarkably, though, the US Tour Commissioner, Tim Finchem has come to Elkington's aid. Finchem has written to sponsors pointing out Elkington's predicament, extolling his 10-win career that included the USPGA Championship in 1995 and pointing out that ‘he has been a tournament favourite for his work with the sponsors'.

Some players are none too happy with Finchem.

US Open runner-up and former world No.1, David Duval thinks ‘it's out of line'. Duval, who is in the same boat as Elkington (he has ‘conditional status' as a past champion), said: ‘It never crossed my mind to ask Tim to do that for me.'

Tim Herron is another fine player who finds himself in no man's land and is reliant on writing to sponsors for one of the handful of ‘sponsor's exemptions' available each week to the tournament promoters.

‘That's terrible for the tour,' Herron argued. ‘The tour needs to be unbiased and treat everyone the same. That is a slap in the face. Nothing against Steve Elkington but the tour is supposed to represent the players as a whole, and not just one player.'

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Elkington writing and requesting invitations. He still plays well - really well at times - and his swing is one of the most graceful in the game but Duval clearly has a right to ask why Finchem is doing it for one player.

Duval was the best, or second best, player in the world for a period around the turn of the century and he was runner-up in last year's U.S Open. What is bizarre is that he then failed to capitalise on that stunning reversal of form - he had been in a Baker-Finch type slump for some years - and regain his exemptions.

Elkington is 47 this year and just under three years away from the Senior Tour. Those last few years before 'The Life Begins Again at 50 Tour' are difficult for players who, in a sense, are too old for one tour and too young for the other.

Elkington is however making something of his starts this year. Already he has made more than $300,000 and is lying just outside the top 70. With some good play - he probably needs another $400,000 - he may indeed regain his status.

What would be really nice for golf fans in Australia would be for him to come back to The Lakes at the end of the year and play The Australian Open. He won there in 1992 and his game honed in the wind at nearby La Perouse is perfectly suited to the type of golf needed to win in Sydney. It has been too long since he was here and that is a pity for those who love watching the perfection of his technique - and I think for him as well.