So shrewd it's a bit scarey

Imagine if you'd had David Duval in your team from the start of the competition up until week 11, benefiting from his stunning early season form to the tune of 335,600 Golf Masters' pounds. And then, around the time the world number one decided to take a mini-break from the game, you replaced him with Colin Montgomerie, just in time for his victories at the Benson and Hedges International and last weekend's Volvo PGA Championship, both bonus tournaments.

Take a bow David Maune and Pat Doyle, the top two on our overall leaderboard and joint leaders in our race for the title of "shrewdest transfer market wheelers and dealers of the year". When Monty promised two weeks ago that he would win two of the next three tournaments, David and Pat clearly took him at his word. David's Cremorne 1 extended their overall lead this week to just under £194,000 (from last week's £59,000 lead over Colomba Gavigan), after winning exactly £250,000 at the weekend (the bulk of the total contributed by Montgomerie and Retief Goosen).

Pat Doyle fell £80,000 short of David's weekly total but still jumped from fourth to second, ahead of Gavigan, Pat Corby (who has three teams in the top 10) and Conor Brennan, the only other managers to break the £1.5 million earning mark so far.

David, Colomba and Conor have already used their four transfers on their leading teams. Joe Quinn (sixth) and William Brennan (seventh) are our only top 10 managers yet to make a single change to their original line-ups.

It came as a surprise to Leo Buckley of Rathcoole, Dublin, to hear that he is now figuring in the upper reaches of the overall leaderboard, following his Acorn team's success at the weekend.

Leo had long since given up on any of his teams making an impact in the competition, but four top 10 finishes at the Volvo PGA - Mark James (second), Paul Eales (third), Retief Goosen (joint fifth) and Jose-Maria Olazabal (joint 10th) - and Steve Stricker's share of 10th place at the Kemper Open helped Acorn to the almighty winning total of £406,000 in week 13, moving them up to 23rd overall.

Geoff Bourke of Moville, Co Donegal, a fourball winner last year, has returned to the top 50 this week with two teams, Tom Tom Tom's (18th) and Nice One Brad (26th). The rise of Nice One Brad is particularly surprising in light of the fate of the man the team name refers to: Brad Faxon who, to date, has won £84,083 for Geoff's challengers. Faxon fell from a ladder in the backyard of his Rhode Island home last week and broke his left wrist. He is expected to be out for six to eight weeks, meaning he will miss the US Open and possibly the British Open. "Nice one Brad, indeed," we suspect is the response of Faxon's 783 employers (including Geoff).

And what about Ian Woosnam's 1,045 managers? "Nice one Ian," they probably muttered when they heard yesterday of his withdrawal from the English Open after he damaged tendons in his fingers playing with his children; he, too, could be out for several weeks.

But if you thought Brad and Ian had it tough, spare a thought for John Daly. He's won only £19,000 in our competition so far, missed another cut at the Kemper Open last weekend and, we'd imagine, isn't flavour of the month with his potential in-laws to be. Why? Last week he withdrew from the Colonial after the first round, during which he hit a shot on the seventh that ricocheted through the trees and hit, of all people, his girlfriend's mother. If Daly was that accurate with his driving and putting his 813 Golf Masters' managers would be a whole lot happier with their £1.5 million man.