Clarke concedes order of merit to Els

ALTHOUGH he is still in 2nd position on the money list, Darren Clarke has conceded the 2003 European Tour order of merit to South Africa’s Ernie Els.

A share of 38th place in the week-end’s WGC American Express World Championship foiled whatever chance he had of catching Els, who will be claiming the honour for a third successive year for South Africa having been preceded by Retief Goosen in 2001 and ‘02.

That is not a healthy situation for the game in Europe, all the more so because Els concentrates largely on the US Tour and makes far fewer appearances on this side of the Atlantic than, say, Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter, his closest challengers in the order of merit.