It is an open secret that only a little unfinished business has prevented Colin Montgomerie from already announcing that he will be playing more golf in the USA than Europe next year.

Monty's matter in hand is to finish number one in Europe for a record fifth successive year, for which he is once again in pole position going into the Tour's showpiece finale, which has now moved from its original home at Valderrama to the Montecastillo Hotel and Golf club, just outside the southern Spanish city of Jerez.

The Jack Nicklaus-designed course which was one of the seven Spanish candidates to stage this year's Ryder Cup, is next door to the Grand Prix motor racing circuit. The analogies are obvious, less certain this time is the identity of the professional who will take the chequered flag.

Montgomerie, number one for the last four years, and again heading the Volvo ranking by a comfortable margin, is a hot favourite. He has earned £613,947 from 21 tournaments for a lead of £45,249 over his nearest challenger with Ireland's Darren Clarke in third place on £467,709, and still technically capable of himself becoming top man in 1997.

In normal circumstances it would already be cut and dried, and largely a matter of a four-day wait for the required laps to be completed. But this time Montgomerie's arch rival is Bernhard Langer, and no one, least of all the Scot is prepared to count on anything until the last putt of the last round has dropped into the hole.

Langer has won four times to Montgomerie's twice this season, and on the occasion of his last victory, the German Masters in Berlin, had a European record 60 on the way to beating the Scot into second place by six strokes.

Now with both poised to reach £6 million in career winnings, and a top prize of £166,660 on offer, Langer looks eminently capable of outscoring Montgomerie on a course that is several notches beneath Valderrama on the scale of difficulty, as the German emphasised with a 66, and Eduardo Romero with 63, in yesterday's pro-am preamble.

"Langer is the wrong guy for me this week," admitted Montgomerie. "He can win anywhere and anytime. I wish it was someone else chasing me. He is a unique and remarkable individual."

So is the Scot, as his record of 12 victories and 12 seconds in 100 tournaments prior to this one over the last five seasons, clearly indicates. They will be watching each other's every move.

Clarke more or less conceded he would not be a major player in the number one contest when he withdrew from last week's OKI ProAm, won by Paul McGinley. "My balance is not right and I am not hitting the ball consistently enough," he said.

He has also pulled out of the Kapalua event in Hawaii he was intending to visit next week. But he did reveal that the putter he had allowed McGinley to take from him at St Andrews two weeks ago, and with which the Dubliner won so handsomely in Madrid, was the one which the Ulsterman used in finishing runner-up in the British Open at Royal Troon. "I had no idea it was the same one," said McGinley, "but Darren will struggle to get it back after what happened last week."

For both there is every incentive for top grade performances here. Volvo's bonus pool of £650,000 will be shared out on the basis of final Volvo ranking position after this week, and at the moment Clarke stands to be handed an extra £78,000. He will get £110,000 if he can snatch second place in the money list from Langer.

If Clarke maintains his third place he will also be sure of getting an invitation to the US Masters next April. Padraig Harrington is currently 12th in the order of merit, and his target is to maintain a place in the top 15 in order to secure a guarantee invitation to the US Open.

For the in-form McGinley, the incentive is that he has every chance of jumping into the top 15 from his current 20th position, if he can re-produce the quality of golf that won him his second Tour title at La Moraleja. Ronan Rafferty, who qualifies for the elite field because he is a category one player, is the other Irish contender. Rafferty was the second winner of the Volvo Masters in 1989 when he was European number one. This week's defending champion is Mark McNulty.

Ten of Europe's victorious Ryder Cup team are also in the field of 66, as is their captain Seve Ballesteros. The missing pair are Nick Faldo and Jesper Parnevik who are both competing in the US Tour Championship at the Champions Club, Houston