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.

Given the hugely significant role played by our three representatives at The Belfry 12 months ago, all Irish eyes will once again be on Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley in the hope that we can again have the same level of representation.

The current portents are certainly favourable for our 'big three'. Darren Clarke has suddenly burst into form after a poor year, with his magnificent victory in the WGC NEC Championship in Ohio followed by 9th place in the Deutsche Bank event in Boston and now his win in the Northern Ireland Masters on Sunday.

That last achievement could easily be dismissed as one of little value as it came in a Challenge Tour event but Clarke still had to manage a winning score in tough conditions against opponents who week in, week out shoot remarkably low numbers on their own circuit.

All too often we have seen Clarke unable some would say unwilling to grind out the figures when the going got tough but nobody could suggest anything of the kind after the way he battled to nine straight pars down the stretch at Clandeboye.

"I didn't think I would feel so much pressure and I was relieved to hang in down the stretch," said Clarke. "It's always nice to win at home and the crowds came out in big numbers to watch so hopefully we'll see this event again next year and in the years to come."

Accordingly, the big man heads for Cologne this week with his game at its highest level for a long time; something that can also be said of Paul McGinley. His second place behind Retief Goosen at St Nom-La-Breteche has got his Ryder Cup campaign off on a very favourable note. It might have been even better, of course, for he took seven at the par five 16th when there were signs that Goosen, not for the first time in this event, looked like faltering, and he also bogeyed the 18th. Who knows what might have happened had McGinley imposed more pressure on the South African. Hopefully he has reached a stage of the season where he can capitalise on his IPGA triumph at Adare Manor and his prominent showing in Paris, which earned him €200,000 and a move up to 27th in the European order.

"I've been waiting all season for a run of form," says McGinley. "My new cackhanded putting grip is making a big difference and I'm also hitting the ball long and generally pretty straight as well. I would love to experience the special atmosphere of the Ryder Cup once again and now I've made a reasonable start in that direction. But there's almost twelve months of golf to be played before the team is finalised so it's probably not wise to be even thinking that way for a long time to come yet."

Perhaps, but every point will be crucial and any chance scorned, even at this early stage, could well prove fatal. Just about everybody regards Padraig Harrington as a certainty for Oakland Hills, and that he and Clarke will be two of the 'senior' members of the European side.

He has just begun easing himself back into action after a summer of no little discontent on the golf course. Having won the TPC of Europe in May and backed into 10th place in the US Open in June, Harrington has either missed cuts in major events (like the British and Irish Opens) or failed to make an impression in the US PGA or the WGC NEC.

On top of that, Padraig's schedule was severely disrupted by the arrival of his first born so it was good to see him show a bit of form in Paris at the weekend, even if he was unable to maintain a meaningful challenge after two opening rounds of 68 He sees the next two weeks as important to get his season going again.

He tied for the German Masters the week after his Ryder Cup debut in 1999 before losing to Sergio Garcia in a play-off, while he won the Dunhill Links by defeating Eduardo Romero in 'sudden death' last year.

Damien McGrane is making a very gutsy attempt to clinch his card on the main tour. His opportunities have been limited as he qualifies through a lowly 38th place at the Tour School but he has plugged away gamely and a share of 10th in Paris was worth 33,860 and moved him up to 135th in the order of merit along with an invitation into this week's lucrative German Masters.

The leading 115 at the end of the year go automatically through to 2004 for which Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and Graeme McDowell are already qualified along with usual suspects Clarke, Harrington and McGinley.

Irish order of merit positions after Lancome Trophy: 2, Darren Clarke, €1,822,743; 4, Padraig Harrington €1,230,469; 27, Paul McGinley €576,531; 49, Peter Lawrie €335,917; 50, Gary Murphy €331,148; 81, Graeme McDowell €214,859; 135, Damien McGrane €121,152.