As the champion of 1999 and a top-10 finisher at Ballybunion last year, Sergio Garcia would have been a significant addition to the Murphy's Irish Open field this week. And, indeed, to the forthcoming Smurfit European Open line-up at The K Club, which he also missed 12 months ago.

But the Spaniard won't be returning to Europe until Loch Lomond in two weeks. From there the 21-year-old will head for a tilt at history at Royal Lytham where in 1979, his illustrious countryman, Seve Ballesteros, became at 22, the youngest British Open winner of the modern era.

Meanwhile, in the wake of his second American triumph at Westchester last Monday, Garcia has made it clear to experts there, that he has no intention of changing a swing likened by television pundit Peter Kostis to "Ben Hogan on steroids." It won't hold up over time, they say of the method taught by Victor Garcia, a club professional outside Valencia. Yet two wins in his last six starts, including a serious challenge for the US Open, would suggest that father knows best.

Either way, like a dutiful son, the player said: "I just keep working with my dad." He went on: "I think everybody who said my swing was bad and I had to change it, they have to eat their words. I think it is a pretty good swing. More than anything, my dad didn't deserve that.