French pot looks inviting

WHILE THE tournament diary of Tiger Woods has been cleared for the rest of the year, important dates must still be pencilled in for others with major ambitions and this week's French Open - with its €4 million purse - presents significant opportunities, among them Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, who have yet to secure places in the field for next month's British Open at Royal Birkdale.

A mini-order of merit with two places available (Australian Scott Strange and Chile's Felipe Aguilar currently hold those two spots) finishes in Paris this week, where five Irishmen who have yet to secure exemptions to Birkdale - Clarke, McGinley, Rory McIlroy, Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy - will be in action. The other two Irish players in the field, Graeme McDowell and Damien McGrane, had previously guaranteed their tickets to the third major of the season.

This is not the last chance saloon for those yet without exemptions, as international qualifying is scheduled to take place at Sunningdale next Monday - ahead of next week's European Open at The London Club, when Pádraig Harrington resumes tournament play as part of his build-up to the defence of the Claret Jug - while the Scottish Open in a fortnight's time has one spot for the highest placed finisher in that tournament who isn't already exempt.

However, the sheer size of the prize-money available in France makes this a particularly attractive tournament in its own right, while also giving extra incentive to players like Clarke and McGinley - who hold the British Open in particularly high regard - to book their places ahead of the qualifying lottery.

The prize-money on offer also means there's plenty of Ryder Cup points available, although Harrington, who made a late decision to enter the tournament two years ago and gave himself a cushion in his quest for an automatic place, has decided not to repeat that move on this occasion.

Clarke hasn't played since the Austrian Open. Now ranked inside the world's top 100 again (in exactly 100th position), Clarke has used the break since then to multitask: he managed to return home to Northern Ireland, fine-tuning his links game with some rounds at Royal Portrush while also managing to get in some coarse fishing near his home outside London.

Of his last competitive outing, Clarke remarked: "Austria was actually a very interesting experience, most notably because I led the driving accuracy stats, which was probably a first for me, and I was eighth in greens in regulation. My poor finish (he was 19th), was down to my short game not being as sharp as I'd have liked . . . so I've put a lot of emphasis on chipping and putting in practice."

Missing the first two majors of the season has been put to a positive use by Clarke. "I'm hugely disappointed (at missing them), and that's what drives me on to keep practising and practising. I want to ensure that this season's setbacks are not repeated in the future."

McGinley's last outing came in the weather-hit St Omer Open (the same week as the US Open), where he missed the cut but the Dubliner is determined to regain the sort of form that he was displaying up to the BMW PGA, or at least the form he showed for the first two rounds of that championship.

Luke Donald, another player with room to make up in a quest for an automatic Ryder Cup place, has been forced out of the French Open.

The Englishman sustained a wrist injury in the final round of the US Open at Torrey Poines, which forced him to withdraw after 14 holes. Donald was also due to play in last week's BMW International, but decided to take a week's rest to give the wrist a chance to recover. Now, he has decided to take another week off.

However, the field - as it deserves - has three of the in-form players on the European Tour, including order of merit leader Miguel Angel Jimenez as well as Lee Westwood, who finished third, a shot outside of a play-off in the US Open, and the very much in-form Robert Karlsson. The Swede has had five successive top-four finishes on the European Tour.

Ian Poulter, like Donald forced to withdraw from the US Open in the final round after sustaining an injury, is hoping to resume play this week.

Having undergone a couple of tough years in terms of attracting a quality field, this year's French Open has managed to attract a strong list of contenders. As Frenchman Thomas Levet, put it: "It's big. The players are coming along because the prize-money is so big and you can't afford to miss it. So, the goal they had is getting there, and I hope it's going to become even bigger."

Meanwhile, former tour player David Higgins will have to wait to see if he gets into the field for this weeks' Scottish Challenge at Cardrona. The Waterville player is the second reserve for the tournament, one of the biggest on the European Challenge Tour. There are seven Irish players in the field: Michael Hoey, Colm Moriarty, Alan Murray, Peter O'Keeffe, Richard Kilpatrick, Stephen Browne and Gareth Maybin.