In the horses-for-courses theory of things, Valderrama is not a course that the four Irish players who have made it through to this week's season-ending shindig on the PGA European Tour - the Volvo Masters - would normally choose to play. Of the quartet, only Darren Clarke, who was runner-up to Colin Montgomerie in 1993 and finished tied-ninth two years ago, has managed top-10 finishes.

With the qualifying criteria changed to limit entry in this tour finale to the top 60 players on the Volvo Order of Merit it would seem that, numerically at least, Ireland's four representatives - Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley - have a fighting chance of claiming the title.

In actual fact, that rate of success further improved because only 54 players have taken up their invitations, with the top two players on the money list, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen (who is defending a title on the US Tour this week), among those missing out.

Yet, Harrington, who won this event once when it was staged at Montecastillo and finished second on two other occasions, doesn't really understand why he should find it so difficult to challenge when it is played at Valderrama.

"I think the problem with the course, for me, is that you don't get away with missing the fairways," he said.

This time round, he hopes that won't be as much of a problem. "I'm shaping the ball now, so it will be interesting to see how it suits my own game," explained Harrington, who also intends using a three-wood off the tee more frequently this week. "I've put on more length this year and I've always hit my three-wood long, so I have more options available to me. Hopefully, it will suit me this time round.

"The extra length has come from the gym work that I've done over the past couple of years and the new shoes have made a difference . . . and, of course, the equipment has changed too. It's a combination of everything together," he said.

Although the two players ahead of him in the money list are absent this week, Harrington has no chance of overtaking either of them and, with 625,000 on offer to the winner, his main concern will be copper-fastening his third place on the Order of Merit ahead of going out to Atlanta next week for the US Tour's finale, the Tour Championship.

Having entered the 2004 season as a non-member of the US Tour, Harrington has the opportunity to join the field at the Tour Championship. Along with $1,747,876 in non-member earnings, Harrington has totalled $452,000 in winnings from World Golf Championships for a total of $2,199,876. That amount would rank 21st on the current money list and secures him a place in the field. His inclusion will increase the size of the field to 31.

For Clarke, meanwhile, it will be a case of keeping one eye on developments at Tampa, where the final counting tournament of the regular US Tour season is taking place.

While the Ulsterman is attempting to claim the Volvo Masters, he'll also be interested in what is happening in America as he currently holds 27th place on the US Tour money list and, as things stand, would get into the field for the Tour Championship.

However, Clarke is only $171,376 ahead of the 31st-placed player, Kenny Perry, on the money list and, not surprisingly, the 28th-positioned Carlos Franco, the 29th-placed Jay Haas and the 30th-placed Rodney Pampling are all in the field for the $5-million tournament in Florida. Admittedly, though, it would take a pretty freakish sequence of results for all of them to overtake Clarke.

Meanwhile, the international federation of PGA Tours yesterday announced that the new Arnold Palmer-designed Victoria Course at Vilamoura in the Algarve, Portugal, will host the 2005 WGC - World Cup, with a minimum prize fund of $4 million.

This will be the first time the World Cup has been played in Portugal and the second time in Europe since the event came under the umbrella of the World Golf Championships and underwent a title and format change in 2000.

The 2004 Championship is being staged across the border from Portugal in the Spanish city of Seville at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla from November 18th-21st.