Olazabal takes Irish Open gamble

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL is prepared to gamble with increased pain in his feet so as to compete in the Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen on July 3rd to 6th. Effectively, it means playing three weeks in a row for the first time since his return to action in Dubai in February.

Olazabal, who emphasised his current well being with a closing 68 for a share of 22nd place in the Alamo English Open last Sunday, remains 11th in the Ryder Cup standings. It means that his manager. Sergio Gomez, is no longer forced to plan on a week to week basis.

"I have spoken to Irish Open officials and things are looking good," he said. "Though it would mean playing the Irish, Loch Lomond and the British Open on successive weeks Jose is getting stronger all the time.

He added: "I suppose it is still a bit of a risk but our plan is to take two weeks off after he plays in the US Open at Congressional." This current week was potentially very demanding but the pressure was eased through Olazabal's defeat by Colin Montgomerie in the Andersen Consulting Matchplay yesterday.

Only three Irish players made the cut at Hanbury Manor last Friday but the country will have 12 representatives in the Volvo PGA Championship starting at Wentworth on Friday. They are: Ronan Rafferty, Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Philip Walton, Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Raymond Burns, David Higgins, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Brendan McGovern and Damian McGrane.

McGovern and McGrane, who happen to be the club professional and assistant at Headfort in Kells, qualify for the event through the Irish Order of Merit. Meanwhile, a particularly interesting challenger is Tony Jacklin, the 1982 winner of the event, who competed at St Margaret's over the weekend.

But the main focus will be on Nick Faldo, who is making his first European appearance of the season at Wentworth. And he will be back in these parts in July, when he competes in the Irish Open, then the Loch Lomond Invitational and the British Open, in successive weeks.

O'Connor, who no longer has exempt status, is one of 10 sponsors invitees, along with the US based Frank Nobilo, Vijay Singh and Jesper Parnevik.

Meanwhile, Tour veteran Sam Torrance believes that Europe has no reason to feel any sense of inferiority over the continued success of Tiger Woods, who swept to victory in the Byron Nelson Classic in Texas last Sunday. Remarkably, it was Woods's first tournament appearance since his record breaking win in the Masters on April 13th.

To emphasise his point, Torrance, singled out the splendid progress of two Irish players on the European Tour. "We're not falling behind at all," he said. "Obviously Tiger Woods is special but the Americans don't have as much new talent as us.

The 43 year old Scot went on: "I could name at least 10 European youngsters - players like Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, Steve Webster, Stuart Cage, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke. The new crop is just coming through."

But the fact is that Woods is revolutionising the game in the US after less than a full year in professional ranks. And nobody is more pleased than USPGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem. New contracts which he has agreed with the major American networks are set to quadruple in four years, reaching at least 5200 million by the year 2002.

This is expected to result in the average US tournament purse doubling to around $4 million. And in two years, it is estimated that their flagship Tour Championship will be worth $6.5 million. All of which makes this week's prize fund of £1.1 million at Wentworth appear rather modest by comparison.

As Olazabal put it yesterday: "It looks like we're playing for second place. But if I keep working hard at the game, perhaps I should be ready to beat him in about 20 years - by the time I'm 51.