As Pat Corby, the new leader of the competition, put it himself, "if Darren Clarke wins the European Open that'll scuttle everything". Yes, remember if there's an Irish winner at the K Club next Monday afternoon he will collect 400,000 Golf Masters' pounds (the bonus prize for a home winner of a tournament staged in Ireland) and, consequently, would dramatically alter the overall leader-board this time next week. Clarke is the Irish player most feared by both Pat and David Maune at the European Open, although it might come as some comfort to them to hear that he appears in only one top 10 team, Paul Sheehan's eighth-placed Bite Baby (unless someone else transferred him into their line-up at the 11th hour).
Paul currently trails Pat's Blackbirds 7 by £234,928 but a Clarke victory would significantly boost our reigning champion's hopes of retaining his Golf Masters' title.
Should Padraig Harrington win then we could probably add "champion elect" to Pat's name in future weeks - he is the only top 10 manager to have Harrington in his teams (all three of them).
Des Smyth will be flying the flag for Cremorne 1 and Twilight Zone, Roger Mullarkey's fourth-placed team, while Eamonn Darcy is the Irish representative for the rest of our top 10 managers, Declan O'Neill, John Geaney, William Brennan and Tom Hayes. Three years ago the Golf Masters was decided at the European Open, when Michael McManamon came from fifth place to win the competition at the death. Michael was stewarding at the K Club that weekend (on the second hole) but resisted the temptation to try to put off his rival managers' players as they lined up their putts on his green. We are confident too that if either Pat Corby or David Maune make it to the K Club on Monday afternoon they won't suddenly get a fit of sneezing just as Darren Clarke lines up his tournament winning putt on the 18th.
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