Each player has reason to crunch numbers

EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS:THE NUMBERS game is critical to golf, but a number of Irish players are crunching digits with different aims as the European Tour enters the home run.

Rory McIlroy is striving to stay atop the Order of Merit, Graeme McDowell wants to get back into the world’s top-50, Darren Clarke hopes to break into the top-60 on the European money list to earn a ticket to next month’s Dubai World Championship and Gary Murphy is trying to nudge his way into the top-115 on the list to retain his tour card.

So, this week’s €3 million Portuguese Masters over the Victoria Course at Vilamoura has taken on a greater significance for the different aims and quests.

In McIlroy’s case, he has the opportunity to open further ground between himself and his pursuers, as Martin Kaymer (€26,512 behind) and Paul Casey (€43,417 adrift) continue to be sidelined by foot and rib injuries respectively.

McIlroy is returning after a week’s break – his only golfing commitment was a sponsor’s day in Lough Erne last Friday – in his bid to consolidate his position.

And the 20-year-old Ulsterman has confirmed he will play in the World Matchplay in a fortnight (rather than the Singapore Open), then move on to the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, followed by the Hong Kong Open, and then try to close the deal at the Dubai World Championship.

As McIlroy puts it, “It’s a great feeling to be number one in the Race to Dubai and I’m hoping to build on that in the coming weeks.”

He won’t be short of company in Portugal this week, as a strong Irish contingent will be competing. McIlroy will be joined in the Algarve by Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley (if his injured Achilles’ tendon has cleared up), Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Shane Lowry, Michael Hoey and Gary Murphy.

Maybin only earned a place in the field for Portugal thanks to his tied-fourth place finish in Madrid last weekend, his sixth top-10 of his rookie year on the main tour.

For McDowell, who is on a two-week stint that also takes in next week’s Castello Masters, before a planned finish to his season that will see him play the HSBC Champions and Dubai World Championship, before partnering McIlroy for Ireland in the World Cup in China, the need for some strong performances won’t be lost on him. He has slipped outside the world’s top-50, down to 52nd, and needs to force his way back up by year’s end if he is to secure an automatic invitation to next year’s US Masters.

Another northerner also needs to grab some upward momentum, although in Clarke’s case it is in the Race to Dubai. Clarke is 66th in the money list and needs to move into the top-60. As such, he has mapped out an itinerary that takes in Portugal, the Castello Masters, Singapore and the Hong Kong.

If anything, Murphy’s needs are more pressing as the Kilkenny man – who has retained his tour card on each of the past seven seasons – is facing a race against time to move into the top-115 who automatically win cards for the 2010 season. His tied-fourth place finish with Maybin in Madrid, his first top-10 of the season, moved him from 145th to 120th. It was a timely return to form.

As things stand, six Irish players – McIlroy (first), Harrington (21st), McDowell (37th), Lawrie (47th), Maybin (48th) and McGrane (50th) – are inside the top-60 on the Race to Dubai. And while McIlroy is the man in pole position, Harrington – whose late-season itinerary sees him take in this week, Singapore and the HSBC Champions before arriving in Dubai – hasn’t given up thoughts of staging a bid to top the table.

Harrington, though, recognises it will probably require a couple of wins if he is to harbour serious thoughts of mounting a late charge . . . and he hasn’t won since last year’s US PGA.

The Dubliner is returning to tournament play in Portugal having spent last week in Copenhagen as part of the successful bid team to get golf into the Olympics.

The carrot of getting to Dubai has also enticed a number of US Tour-based players to venture to Portugal, with American Ben Curtis and England’s Justin Rose among the entries.

Meanwhile, England’s Ross McGowan’s maiden tour win in the Madrid Masters has moved the 27-year-old to 116th in the world rankings, a jump of 61 places, and, in these early days of Ryder Cup qualifying, jumped him to second on both lists to get on Colin Montgomerie’s team for Celtic Manor next year.