Madrid Open: Of the four Irish challengers in this week's Madrid Open, only Graeme McDowell is currently in the field for next week's season-ending Volvo Masters, which is confined to the top 60 on the Volvo Order of Merit.

McDowell sits impressively at sixth in the table, and given his recent form can be considered one of the leading challengers for this week's top prize of €166,000 at Club de Campo.

But Gary Murphy (83rd), Peter Lawrie (88th) and Damien McGrane (99th) must produce one of their best weeks of the season if they are to grab a spot in the field for the lucrative visit to Valderrama.

Peter Baker and Colin Montgomerie, Ryder Cup team-mates at The Belfry in 1993 and Walker Cup colleagues eight years before that, find themselves in starkly different situations in Madrid.

While Montgomerie's aim is to stop his slide down the world rankings - he is down from 10th two years ago to 66th - Baker is involved in a make-or-break attempt to save his European Tour career.

Exempt since he turned professional 18 years ago, the Wolverhampton golfer goes into the final counting event 121st on the Order of Merit and needing to climb six places to avoid his first trip to the dreaded qualifying school.

Baker, who has hired top caddie Pete Coleman for his last-ditch attempt, said: "It's battle stations and all I can do is give it my best shot. There's no getting away from the fact that I've played poorly for the last three years and it's been tough. I don't want to be struggling - I want to be competitive.

"I have some great rounds, but I also have some shocking ones. I've become so inconsistent and I need to get away from it for a while and then try to sort it out. But you can't take that break when you're in the situation I am."

Baker has finished 125th and 126th on the money list the past two seasons, but the 1988 Benson and Hedges champion was kept alive then by his career earnings of over £2 million.

Now the 37-year-old has lost his place in the top 40 of that table, however, and finds himself in the annual fight for the last few exempt spots.

For two other former Ryder Cup players that fight is already over. Neither David Gilford, 136th on the money list, nor 1999 Open runner-up Jean van de Velde, 170th, are in the Madrid field.

Among those who do have one more chance is England's Simon Wakefield, who had hoped his dramatic fifth-place finish in the Heritage tournament at Woburn three weeks ago would be good enough to keep him on tour.

Wakefield would have been joint third and safe if he had birdied the par-five last, but hit out of bounds and then was stuck behind a tree before sinking a 30-foot putt for a bogey six.

The 30-year-old from Newcastle-under-Lyme has missed two halfway cuts since then, however, and now finds himself 116th in the standings.

A good luck message from stablemate Darren Clarke has given Wakefield a lift.

"I've struggled for self-confidence and that's been my downfall. The way I've played most of the season I don't deserve to retain my card, but Darren said I was good enough and told me to go out and do well."