European golfers playing below par

IF they didn't realise it before the Players Championship at Sawgrass over the weekend, the leading European golfers now know how difficult it will be to bridge the six-year gap since one of them captured a major championship.

When Jose-Maria Olazabal won the Masters at Augusta National in 1999 - followed a few months later by Paul Lawrie's Open Championship success - few imagined how many years would elapse before another European would add his name to one of these coveted trophies. Ironically, the drought coincided with a remarkable run of success for Europe in the Ryder Cup - they have won four of the last five contests.

The Players Championship may not be a major in the strict sense of the word, but the world's top 50 were all involved in the weather-disrupted event that ended on Monday night in victory for Fred Funk, one of the American flops at Oakland Hills. Significantly, however, of the Europeans, only Luke Donald counted when push came to shove down the treacherous Sawgrass stretch in the final round.

Donald confirmed his high rating by chasing Funk all the way home. Needing a birdie to tie, he was unlucky to see an approach to the 18th rule the flag all the way only to bounce forward off a downslope when other shots were stopping stone dead on the sodden greens. He made a game effort with the return, only to see his ball slip by the hole. So Funk picked up the US$1,444 million first prize, by the far the greatest of his career, much to the delight of "Funk's Punks", the excitable and noisy fans who have been following him over the years with good humour and considerable patience, not to mention his wife Sharon, children Eric, Taylor Christian and Leigh, and caddy Mark Long.

We in Ireland also have good things to say about Funk, who competed in the Murphys Irish Open at Fota Island in 2002 when he tied for 23rd with a ten under par total of 278. His jovial personality endeared him to Irish fans and millions of television viewers who watched him win at Sawgrass on Monday. Funk duly improved from 53rd to 5th in the US order of merit with US$1,777, 000, and from 37th to 22nd in the world rankings.

For any European who thought it was only a case of turning up before they won a major, this was a salutary lesson. Many of them - Donald, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington - were very much in the hunt after the first round. Donald hung in there to the last hole, Westwood led or jointly led at various stages, but no others could deliver.

Donald tied for 2nd with Tom Lehman and Scott Verplank to win US$597, 333. Next best of the current Ryder Cup side were Westwood, 22nd on two under; Garcia, 32nd on one over; Miguel-Angel Jimenez, 46th on three over and Harrington and Darren Clarke, both seven over for a share of 63rd. As if to underline the disappointing European performance, Ryder Cuppers Paul Casey (one over), David Howell (three over) and Ian Poulter (four over), all missed the cut.

Other Europeans who survived into the weekend were Nick Faldo (27th on even par) and Jesper Parnevik (46th on three over). Justin Rose missed the cut on even par. Bernhard Langer, who gave up on the captaincy to fight for his place, was also one too many, and another strong candidate, Thomas Bjorn, withdrew.

The battle to bridge the six-year gap is now little more than a week away and will add spice to the Masters where Europeans, led initially by Seve Ballesteros and carried on subsequently by Bernhard Langer, Olazabal, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, were a dominant factor. That has changed in recent times but Augusta National is a good venue for the Euros to put their promises into practice.

The European Tour has finally arrived "home" and moves to Estoril for this week's Portuguese Open. Five Irishmen - Gary Murphy, Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie, Philip Walton and Stephen Browne, chase the first prize of €208, 330 from a total purse of €1.25 million.

The current world rankings of our top Irish players are Harrington 6th; Clarke 17th; McDowell 39th and Paul McGinley 64th. McGinley is the leading Irishman on the European Tour order of merit, 17th with 166,908 points ahead of Harrington, 21st with 138,429; McDowell 35 with 85,805; Lawrie, 44th with 59, 578; McGrane, 49th, 55,292; Clarke 51st, 54,495; Stephen Browne, 176th, 8,149; Michael Hoey, 191st, 5,684 and Gary Murphy, 194th, 4,999.