GOLF/News Round-Up: Sergio Garcia will play in the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama next month when this year's European Order of Merit title will almost certainly be decided.
The Spaniard's decision, announced yesterday, had been expected as the world number five still has an outside chance of ending the season at the top of the money list.
South African Retief Goosen, who won the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia in late January, leads the standings with earnings of €2,299,070 and is fancied to retain the Order of Merit title he clinched for the first time last year.
But Goosen is only €47,362 ahead of his good friend and compatriot Ernie Els while Padraig Harrington, winner of the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Sunday, is €6,667 further back in third place.
British Open champion Els, though, is now out of the equation. His wife Liezl gave birth to a boy on Sunday and he is not planning to play any of the last four events on the 2002 European Tour schedule.
Argentinian veteran Eduardo Romero - who lost out to Harrington in a play-off on Sunday - is fourth in the money list with €1,769,062. Colin Montgomerie is fifth on €1,534,258 and Garcia is sixth on €1,364,653.
Garcia, who won this year's Spanish Open, defends his title in the Trophee Lancome in France this week.
Meanwhile, a unique collection of personal golfing memorabilia amassed over the years by nine-times major champion Gary Player went on sale yesterday with a price tag in excess of $5 million.
South African Player (66) has been persuaded by his family to part with a collection built up after more than 50 years in the game.
Among the numerous items on sale is the green jacket he earned for his victory at the 1961 US Masters and then inadvertently took home to Johannesburg the following year when he lost the title in a play-off to Arnold Palmer.
Winners of the US Masters at Augusta are traditionally supposed to leave their jackets behind at the Atlanta golf club.
Also up for sale is the blade putter which Player used to win the grand slam of all four major championships - the US Masters, the US Open, the British Open and the US PGA Championship.
The sale of his memorabilia by private treaty is being handled by Christie's in London with the intention that the buyer will both keep the collection together and put it on public display.
"There has never been a collection like this before. It is unique," said Christie's director David Llewellyn, the man who negotiated the sale with Player and his family. Llewellyn expected the sale to be concluded within six months.
The collection is a treasure trove of trophies, medals, paintings, shoes, clubs, gloves, books and memorabilia put together over the years by the man who, along with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, dominated golf in the 1960s and 70s.
"Nothing is being held back. They are selling everything. This is a major piece of golfing history," Llewellyn said.
Former British Open runner-up Costantino Rocca will spearhead Italy's attempts to qualify for the season-ending World Cup of Golf when he tees off in the Nations Cup tomorrow. Rocca's partner is Alessandro Napoleoni.
Three World Cup spots will be on offer at the 20-team Nations Cup qualifier, which is being held at the Palm Resort Golf and Country Club on the southern tip of Malaysia.
