Clarke looks forward to defence of title

Rather than take the opportunity of a day or two at home, both Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley felt that an earlier than intended trip to Jerez was in order. So, yesterday, the pair travelled out to Spain to finalise their preparations for this week's Volvo Masters, an event which Clarke won last year.

"The weather at home was just so bad that it didn't make much sense to hang around," explained Clarke. "There was no way you could do any worthwhile practice." Traditionally, the Volvo Masters has been the season-ending tournament on the European Tour. Not this year. Next week's American Express World Golf Championship event in Valderamma - which offers $1 million to the winner, but which won't have either David Duval or Mark O'Meara competing - has that distinction this time round, all of which effectively relegates the tournament in Montecastillo (which has £1 million in prizemoney) down a rung in the ladder.

Clarke, however, is determined to make a stout defence of the title. "I've very good memories of Montecastillo," explained Clarke, "especially that final round 63 last year. I would say that it was probably the best golf I have ever played under pressure."

Indeed, Clarke headed out to Spain having extended his contract for another year to act as touring professional attached to the Portmarnock Hotel and Links - and, after playing in Montecastillo and Valderrama in successive weeks, the Ulsterman intends to play back-to-back tournaments in Japan: the Tiaheyo Masters and the Dunlop Phoenix, an event in which he finished runner-up to Lee Westwood last year. Westwood, in fact, is defending both Japanese tournaments.

The Volvo Masters field is limited to just 66 players and, not surprisingly, all of Europe's top guns are in the field. However, only three Irishmen - Clarke, McGinley and Padraig Harrington - have qualified to take part in the event. Only Clarke and Harrington, though, are in the field for Valderrama.

There is an intriguing end-of-season rivalry developing between Clarke and Harrington in the quest to be top Irishman. At the present time, Harrington, who didn't play in last week's Belgacom Open, has an edge on his Ryder Cup colleague: the Dubliner is currently sixth in the Order of Merit (with two tournaments remaining) with EEuros 718,608, and Clarke lies in seventh place with EEuros 649,244. Colin Montgomerie, who is seeking a seventh straight Order of Merit title, heads the moneylist heading into the home straight but the size of prizemoney on offer over the next two weeks means that, no matter how inconceivable it seems, someone could still catch him at the top of the moneylist.

Although the Volvo Masters field is dominated by members of the European Tour, invitations have also been extended to South African Nico Van Rensburg and Asian Tour players Zhang LianWei of China and Burma's Kyi Hla Han.