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.

“Ernie has played consistently better than I have over a long period and I have no complaints,” Clarke acknowledged. “He deserves it. I happened to win the WGC NEC championship putting me in with a shout but he was there in the early and middle parts of the year when I wasn’t doing a whole lot.”

Not only has Clarke given up on the European Tour order of merit but this week he is transferring his energies to the five round Las Vegas Invitational this week in what appears a vain hope of earning enough to get into the US top thirty. In the very unlikely event of doing so, he will play in their Tour Championship in mid-November, forfeiting his place on the British & Irish team for the Seve Trophy El Saler, in Valencia on the same week.

Clarke is currently 97th on the American circuit with $638,211 to his credit. That leaves him more than a million dollars behind the man in 30th place, Rocco Mediate, and the winner’s prize in Las Vegas is $720,000. It appears as if his disastrous 82 in the second round of the Amex has ruined his prospects entry into the Tour Championship.

Although he picked up more than $1m for winning the NEC World Championship in August, it didn’t count on the US Tour.

Europe, for now at any rate, remains Clarke’s home tour and any money gained in a world championship event is credited to his European ranking.

There is a terrific battle going on in the States to decide their order of merit winner. Tiger Woods’s fifth victory of the year in Atlanta at the week-end has restored him to the number one spot with $6,278,746, marginally ahead of Vijay Singh who has amassed $6,107,507, with Davis Love III next on $5,541,096.

Here in Europe, it’s more or less over with Els on 2,975,374 followed by Clarke on 2,159,126 and Padraig Harrington 3rd with 1,417,335.

Neither Clarke nor Harrington will be involved in this week’s 1m Dutch Open at Hilversum. It’s a big tournament for Kilkenny’s Gary Murphy who stands 56th in the money list and badly needs a good week to clinch his place among the top 60 to gain a place in the lucrative season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama next month. Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley, Ronan Rafferty, Peter Lawrie and Murphy are the Irish in this week’s entry with Damien McGrane currently third reserve.

Irish order of merit positions after WGC Amex Championship: 2nd Darren Clarke, €2,159,126; 3rd, Padraig Harrington, €1,417,335. 31st, Paul McGinley €609,171. 50th, Peter Lawrie €402,866. 56th, Gary Murphy €338,309. 89th, Graeme McDowell €221,809. 140th, Damien McGrane €121,152.