Emma makes a poor choice

Eugene Reilly? What can we say? You used your final transfer on your Emma's Choice team last week and sacked Billy Mayfair . . . who went on to win the Buick Open. And you had Stephen Allan in another of your teams . . . and he won the German Open . . . which didn't count in the Golf Masters.

"All in all, a bad weekend - but at least the weather was good and I will continue to enjoy the competition, it's great fun. A polo shirt would ease the pain," wrote our Dublin manager in his admirably, but surprisingly, chirpy email. Emma's Choice won just £6,250 in week 23, putting them in 56th place overall . . . Mayfair's £100,000 would have been very useful indeed. With luck like that, you were entitled to shed a tear or two, Eugene - a well deserved polo shirt is on its way. Eugene wasn't the only manager feeling hard done by this week. In fact the competition helpline had to double up as a counselling service when the awful truth dawned on those managers whose teams had done brilliantly at the German Open. As we pointed out last week, the German Open could not be included in the competition because it was not on our tournament schedule, which was published back in February and March. It was only added to the European Tour schedule after the cancellation of the Czech Open (a few weeks after the Golf Masters began), the tournament that was on our original list.

Rule four of the competition states that "Dream Tour money will be allocated for the 55 tournaments, as specified in The Irish Times", which means we cannot count a tournament that is not listed in our schedule. Cathal Keaveney, of Clontarf in Dublin, had no complaints about the exclusion of the German Open from the competition, in light of his Cavaliers' display at the Buick Open. While Scott Gump and Robert Gamez both missed the cut, Mayfair, Scott Verplank (second), Tiger Woods (joint fourth) and Joey Sindelar (took a share of sixth) more than made up for their team-mates' struggles by winning £285,000 between them, bringing the team's total earnings to a fourball-clinching £286,000. (Commiserations to PH Horgan's 205 managers.

Horgan had a solid start at Warwick Hills, opening with a 71, only to be disqualified when it was discovered that he'd forgotten to register for the tournament when he arrived. We sincerely hope that Eugene Reilly didn't have him in any of his teams, he has enough to be dealing with.) Tony and Brian Murnaghan retain first place at the top of the overall leaderboard, despite Bargain Basement winning just over £6,000, Kevin Barry and Paul Sheehan (Pauly 8) are up one place to second and third, respectively, while Gerry Lonergan's Piltown Firsts rise from 10th to fourth.

Eoin McDermott of Dublin doesn't feature on our leaderboard, despite having a string of tournament winners in his teams (and another "moral" victory by Billy Mayfair, who won a tournament just before the Golf Masters got going). As compensation for his failure to challenge the leaders, despite his impressive record, Eoin is demanding a polo shirt. And if he doesn't get one? "I will be forced to put the matter in the grasping hands of my legal team and seek redress for loss of self-esteem and hearing damage due to the loud rustling noise that your paper makes when I open it," he threatened. Blimey. S'pose we better give you one so.

And then there's Ron Dunne of Dun Laoghaire, who wrote that he "had despaired of ever getting my hands on a polo shirt". "I keep making the odd appearance in the top 50 but, alas, never near enough to trouble the leaders," he said. Ron! You spoke too soon - take a peak at this week's top 50 and see who's in 12th place overall. We'll make a deal - we'll send you a polo shirt, but if you win the £10,000 first prize you can post it back. Okay? (You can buy your own then). Good luck in week 24.