Last year just over 19,000 people entered The Irish Times/AIB Golf Masters competition, a figure that would have had us cracking open a bottle of Moet et Chandon if we had a bottle of Moet et Chandon, because it was the highest entry in the competition's five-year history.

Our sparkling wine celebrations, though, were tinged with sadness because, based on the trend of these types of Fantasy sport competitions, we were assured that the Golf Masters had reached its peak and the only way was down. "These things do well in year one, do slightly better in year two and peak in year three - after that they fade away and are generally laid to rest in years four or five," the experts told us.

So, how do they explain an entry of 20,891 for this year's Golf Masters? "By Monday morning just 8,159 had entered and even though there is always a surge near the closing date, we never even dreamt that we'd end up even coming close to last year's figures, never mind topping the 20,000 mark," said Sean O'Dwyer, general manager of Phonovation Ltd who run the competition with The Irish Times.

"We're shocked and thrilled by the entry, the figures really are unprecedented. It is easily the most popular and most successful league-based fantasy game in the country."

The competition kicks off with two tournaments, this week's Dubai Desert Classic and DoralRyder Open. Lee Westwood fired a course record to share the lead in Dubai after yesterday's first round, buoyed, no doubt, by news that he is now the fourth most expensive player on the Golf Masters' list (behind Tiger Woods, Colin Montgomerie and David Duval).

If Westwood wins the tournament and you have him in your team and he maintains his form for the rest of the season and your other six team members perform similarly well you might, just might, win our £15,000 first prize in September. At which point, the Moet et Chandon will be on you.