Clarke's thoughts turn to Wentworth

Darren Clarke has abandoned hope of taking over from Colin Montgomerie as leader of the European Order of Merit. Now £146,000 behind the Scot, Clarke has decided to concentrate on maintaining third position ahead of Ian Woosnam, which should be sufficient to guarantee him an invitation to next year's US Masters.

So, he will not be playing in the Oki Pro-Am at La Moraleja later this month. As it happens, Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer have also opted out of this event which has a relatively modest prize fund of £450,000.

"Even if I were to win the Oki, I would still be £70,000 behind Monty," said Clarke. "That would be too big a gap to try and close on him in the Volvo Masters."

Clarke's more immediate concern is a debut appearance in the Toyota World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth, starting on Thursday. From the elite, 12-man field, the expectation is that Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson, Nick Price and the holder, Ernie Els, will be seeded into the last eight, when the draw is made today.

Having played 24 tournaments in Europe so far this season, along with three in the US, Clarke is conscious of a demanding, end-of-season schedule that includes two tournaments in Japan next month. "I'm very tired," he said. "It's been a very hectic last few weeks, with the excitement of the Ryder Cup." Since last missing a cut in the Spanish Open last April, the Ulsterman has now compiled eight top-10 finishes. And it was his runner-up position to Justin Leonard in the British Open at Royal Troon which is expected to secure his ticket to Augusta.

"Though their criteria are often difficult to figure out, a top-six in the Order of Merit seems to be the first requirement," said Clarke's manager, Andrew Chandler. "Then there has to be an attention-grabbing tournament performance. I think Darren's Open finish should take care of that. I'm confident he'll be playing all four majors next season."

After competing at Wentworth, where he is guaranteed a minimum of £30,000, Clarke heads for St Andrews to join Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley in Ireland's team for the Alfred Dunhill Cup. That particular event is already arousing considerable interest because of the composition of the Spanish team in which Miguel-Angel Martin is included with Jose-Maria Olazabal and Ignacio Garrido.

In the wake of the Ryder Cup, Nick Faldo made some decidedly interesting revelations about Martin in the American magazine, Sports Illustrated. "The team room is traditionally closed," said Faldo. "Having him (Martin) with us was fine, but not there."

When a peace plan was drawn up giving the Spaniard Ryder Cup status and inclusion in the team pictures, the European players were split on whether he should be permitted into the team room. It seems that Bernhard Langer felt he should he there but, as can be seen, Faldo took the opposite view.

Eventually, Martin became very angry with skipper Seve Ballesteros for refusing to support him on the matter. "Seve told me of the objections of some of the players," said Martin. "He was very nervous. He couldn't look me in the eye. I would have done nothing to hurt the team, but nobody trusted me."

Martin then took the only option he felt was open to him and left Valderrama to watch the Ryder Cup on television from his home in Madrid. Meanwhile, it can be assumed that Olazabal would have backed his friend Ballesteros on the matter.

So, did he now expect problems with Olazabal in the Dunhill Cup? "It might be awkward," Martin conceded. "But playing well will help me get rid of the anger."

Ballesteros and Olazabal are teaming up in the Perrier Pairs tournament in Bordeaux, starting on Thursday. Indeed there are a number of Spanish players involved, but they don't include Martin. His friend, Garrido, is down to play with the relatively unknown Miguel Carrasco. There are no Irish entries.

Meanwhile, another fascinating post-script has been added to the Ryder Cup by the victory of Davis Love in the Buick Challenge in his native Georgia last Sunday. It was Love's 12th US tour victory and it came only a week after he emerged from the Ryder Cup as the only player without points in either side.

Indeed Love's disappointing Ryder Cup - he lost four matches out of four - is difficult to fathom, given his impressive form before and after it. He went to Valderrama having made his major breakthrough in the US PGA Championship on August 17th, followed by top-10 finishes in the World Series and the Canadian Open.

Offering his tuppence-worth to the American post-mortems, golf guru David Leadbetter said at the weekend: "They (the US team) thought they were playing an American-style course and that they were the stronger team. But they didn't appreciate the value of local knowledge. And Europe had more grit."

Irish positions in the Order of Merit: 3, Darren Clarke £467,709; 13, Padraig Harrington £249,762; 39, Paul McGinley £140,835; 58, Ronan Rafferty £105,871; 63, Philip Walton £102,624; 93, Raymond Burns £62,432; 94, Eamonn Darcy £61,551; 123, Des Smyth £45,324; 157, David Higgins £21,252; 158, Christy O'Connor Jnr £21,184; 201, John McHenry £2,010.

The top-10 in the US money list are (US unless stated): 1, Tiger Woods $1,949,920; 2, Justin Leonard $1,463,431; 3, Davis Love $1,348,523; 4, Greg Norman (Australia) $1,248,256; 5, Steve Elkington (Australia) $1,240,411; 6, Scott Hoch $1,213,555; 7, Ernie Els (South Africa) $1,176,608; 8, Jim Furyk $1,164,890; 9, Phil Mickelson $1,121,990; 10, Brad Faxon $1,093,505. Other placings - 51, Nick Faldo $431,326; 76, Darren Clarke $282,816.