When David Feherty passed £1 million in career earnings on the European Tour during the Irish Open at Killarney in 1991, he remarked typically: "Where did it all go?" Des Smyth could probably empathise with that feeling, but he now has reason to appreciate the existence of such figures.

Along with five other seasoned campaigners, Smyth is relying on his status as Europe's 37th most successful player to claim exempt status for next year. He has been forced to turn to category 11, having ended this season in 123rd place in the Order of Merit, six positions below the cut-off point.

Though Feherty's tournament activities are now as a television pundit, he is also in Category 11, should he be tempted back into action. So are Sandy Lyle, Howard Clark, Steven Richardson and Carl Mason. They come into the exempt list after the top 117 players in this season's Order of Merit.

Smyth, who will be 45 next February, has just had the two worst seasons of his tournament career. Yet he is determined to continue playing at the highest level, even if it should mean returning to the Tour School at the end of next season.

The reason for his enduring enthusiasm was partly to be found in events at Myrtle Beach last weekend, when the year's official activities for America's seniors ended with their Tour Championship at the Dunes. It was won by Gil Morgan, who could afford to bogey the last hole and still beat Hale Irwin by two strokes.

A winner's prize of $328,000 meant that Morgan finished second in the money list. More significantly, with a season's haul of $2,160,562, he emulated Irwin's ($2,343,364) achievement of passing $2 million. Indeed, both can boast higher tournament earnings than Tiger Woods ($2,066,833) at the top of the "regular" money list.

Still, there was disappointment for Irwin in that he failed to gain the elusive 10th tournament win of the season, which would have surpassed the record set by Peter Thomson 12 years ago. And his final round of 71 at the Dunes was three strokes higher than the 68 he needed to set a scoring record for the season.

But he did set a scoring record to lay beside his unprecedented earnings: Irwin gained his nine tournament victories in 21 appearances, a success rate of 42.9 per cent. This compares with Thomson's nine wins from 22 events - 40.9 per cent.

The next most successful senior players have been Morgan, with six wins from 25 events; Lee Trevino, with six from 23 (1994); Bruce Crampton (1986) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (1987), with seven from 27, followed by Gary Player (1988) and Trevino (1990) with five from 20.

Morgan's success in holding off the challenge of Irwin last weekend was particularly interesting in the context of a dramatic collapse five years ago. That was in the US Open at Pebble Beach, where he shot opening rounds of 66 and 69 to be nine-under-par at the halfway stage.

He then became the first player to reach 10-under-par in a US Open and, by the eighth tee in the third round, he had swept to 12under and seven strokes clear of his closest challenger. Serious problems started, however, with a double-bogey at the eighth, and with a third round of 77 and a final round of 81, he crashed to a share of 13th place behind the winner, Tom Kite.

A doctor of optometry (which, incidentally, he never practised), Morgan joined the senior Tour after turning 50 on September 25th last year. And he didn't have long to wait for success, capturing Ralphs Senior Classic on October 6th.

Smyth watched those developments with more than a passing interest. He has also noted the success in the US of former European colleagues Vicente Fernandez, John Bland and Hugh Baiocchi.

"The key was that they remained competitive - and that's which I plan to do," he said. "After trying my hand at course design and other business activities, I find that nothing replaces the buzz of competing. That is why my plans are centred on the European Tour."

He went on: "My game was in decline for the last two years, with putting and mid-irons being the main problems areas. But I have worked hard on sorting out the problems and have been greatly heartened by my recent form.

"I am looking towards the senior tours, either in Europe or in the US. It's hard not to be drawn towards the States with all the money that's on offer there."

Meanwhile, Smyth sees no great mystery in the success of players such as Bland who, even without a win this season, has earned in excess of $1.1 million. "By competing in Europe and South Africa, John remained highly competitive right up to his 50th birthday," he said. "The same, however, couldn't be said of Tony Jacklin, who really struggled in his odd appearances on the regular tour, before he joined the seniors."

Though Liam Higgins competed regularly on the European Tour during the 1970s, Eddie Polland has become the first of the established Irish tournament players to make the step to senior ranks. He could not have been considered competitive, however, when he made the move.

But the situation is set to change. Christy O'Connor Jnr, Eamonn Darcy and Smyth look to be capable of achieving the sort of tournament success at senior tour level than they produced on the regular tour. O'Connor's move is imminent, but the other pair still have some time to wait.