Three big steps to an easy Ryder

ALTHOUGH Paul McGinley is the current leader of the points table — courtesy of his second place in the last ever Lancome Trophy at the weekend — it won’t be clear who is making the early running for next year’s European Ryder Cup team for another few weeks until the end of a three week spell.

Beginning on Thursday in Cologne, the German Masters at the Gut Larchenhof club offers a prize fund of €3m. A week later, Pádraig Harrington defends the €4,443,658 Dunhill Links over the Old Course at St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie. Seven days later the world's best assemble at Capitol City, Atlanta, for the WGC Amex Championship with a purse of €5,332,390.

That's a combined total of 12,776,048 Ryder Cup points and any European winning one of these tournaments and figuring prominently in the other two would already be a long way down the road to a place in the side to play at Oakland Hills, Michigan next September.