O'Connor takes on elite

If there were an Irish golfing version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? then the answer to the question of who is the player of the year for 1999 would likely emerge from a quartet of: (a) Padraig Harrington, (b) Darren Clarke, (c) Paul McGinley, or (d) Christy O'Connor Jnr.

While Harrington and Clarke join the superstars of the game in Valderrama for the Am-Ex World Golf Championship event this week, O'Connor is across the other side of the Atlantic in an elite end-of-season tournament on the US Seniors Tour. The Ingersoll-Rand Senior Tour Championship is a confined event with only the top 31 players qualifying to take part.

O'Connor, a two-time tournament winner on the US Seniors Tour this season (along with his success in the British Seniors Open), has qualified comfortably for the $2 million finale. With earnings of $663,149 from 15 events in the United States, the Galwayman is currently 24th in the moneylist. A win in the Senior Tour Championship (the champion collects $347,000) would bring him through the million dollar barrier for the season.

It has been a quite remarkable first full year as a senior for O'Connor, and the former Ryder Cup man has succeeded admirably in becoming the first Irishman to break into the elite of the mega-rich US Seniors Tour. Intriguingly, it is also worth noting that O'Connor, of the 31 players on the Order of Merit, has played fewer tournaments than anyone else which puts his performance into perspective.

His seasonal swansong comes in an event which has been moved to the Dunes Club at Myrtle Beach because of the damage sustained by the original tournament venue - the Tournament Players Club of Myrtle Beach - by the recent Hurricane Floyd.

The TPC course suffered extensive damage from high winds and flooding in the area. The facility lost 200 trees, many bunkers were washed out and several greens and a portion of the irrigation system were also damaged. Hale Irwin, who is currently second in the moneylist behind Bruce Fleisher, defends the title in a tournament which starts on Thursday.