Els Causes Quite A Stir

Hello. Ernie Els (among others) did not play in the European Tour Championship last week. Instead he played in the Singapore Open. As a result, he missed out on winning the European Order of Merit, which he led going into the week. Justin Rose won both the ORder of MErit and the Tour Championship in a 3-way playoff.
Els was very vocal about the scheduling conflict, saying the European Tour knew months ago this situation could happen. He blamed the Euros for not scheduling accordingly.
My question is, why did Els wait until last week to say anything? Surely he knew months ago he had two events he wanted to play on the same week. Could he (and did he) point this out to the Euros? Could he (and did he) point this out to the Asian Tour? Could the Asian Tour have let him out of the contract he signed when the conflict was discovered?
As it turns out, it probably would've been best for everyone if Ernie had not gone to Singapore. He got food poisoning and missed the cut. And some of the media blasted him.
Is there a way to make these situations go away? I think so. Communication seems to be the key.

Regards,
Steve