Clarke in hot pursuit of Goosen

Although his immediate intent is to chase down Retief Goosen in the quest to win the European Tour's order of merit title, Darren Clarke's travel plans at the tail-end of the season will require yet more air miles to be clocked up.

When Tiger Woods calls, you tend to answer in the affirmative. And Clarke, currently eighth in the world rankings, has agreed to play in Tiger's tournament, the Williams World Challenge, which takes place at Sherwood Country Club in California on December 13th-16th.

That $3.5 million event, with an elite field personally invited by Woods, and $1 million to the winner, will be Clarke's season-ending tournament and comes two weeks after he competes in the Million Dollar Challenge in Sun City.

Before then, however, there will be a lot of tournament play and much criss-crossing of time zones. And, after a three-week absence from tournament play, this week's German Masters marks the start of Clarke's concerted bid to close the gap on Goosen in that race to top the European Tour's moneylist.

The chase may seem a forlorn one to most people, but Clarke - currently number two on the moneylist - refuses to believe that the Harry Vardon Trophy, awarded annually to the leading player on the Order of Merit, is out of reach.

Clarke, who finished second to ISM stable companion Lee Westwood in last year's moneylist, and who was also runner-up to Colin Montgomerie in 1998, currently trails Goosen by €681,367.

"I wouldn't say that topping the order of merit is his main goal, winning tournaments is," said his manager Chubby Chandler yesterday, "but there are a number of big tournaments coming up and, if Darren can get a couple of wins in the right events, then it is definitely possible to catch Retief."

Clarke's itinerary over the coming weeks is designed to give himself every chance. Although next week's Cisco World Matchplay championship in Wentworth doesn't count as offical money on the order of merit, Clarke plays in this week's German Masters - with €450,000 to the winner - and, after Wentworth, plays in the $5 million Dunhill Championship in St Andrews.

He then intends to play in the BBVA Masters in Madrid before taking a week off - the week of the Italian Open, although Chandler conceded he may even play there if he had closed the gap sufficiently on Goosen - before competing in the Volvo Masters at Montecastillo, the final counting tournament on the European Tour this season.

Clarke is part of a strong Irish contingent competing in the German Masters. Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, who were also scheduled to play along with Clarke in the Ryder Cup last week until it was postponed due to the terrorist attacks in the United States, also return to competitive play after a month-long absence. Des Smyth, Ronan Rafferty and David Higgins are also competing.

While many American players currently are reluctant to travel, John Daly - who fended off Harrington's challenge to win last month's BMW International in Munich - returns to Europe for this week's tournament, and is also expected to be confirmed for next week's world matchplay in Wentworth.

Incidentally, McGinley's plans for the tail-end of the year also involve a considerable amount of travelling. The Dubliner plays in Germany this week, is the star attraction in next week's Smurfit Irish PGA in Castlerock, and then plays in the Dunhill Championship before finishing his European Tour commitments in the Volvo Masters.

After that, however, he teams up with Harrington in the World Cup in Japan, then plays in the Casio tournament on the Japanese Tour and could possibly play in Hong Kong the following week.

Meanwhile, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer have all qualified for places in a Rest of the World side for a Ryder Cup style over-40s match against the US at Kiawah Island in South Carolina on November 16th-18th.

The sides will be captained by Gary Player (RoW) and Arnold Palmer (US) with six players on each team aged 40-49 and the other six 50 and over. For Langer, it will be a return to the scene where he missed a six-footer in the 1991 Ryder Cup match that decided the outcome in America's favour. Faldo, Woosnam and Langer have been given their places by virtue of their places on the all-time European moneylist.