With 24 weeks of tournaments in the Golf Masters' schedule and just 10 transfers at their disposal it's little wonder that our managers live in a constant state of befuddlement over whether or not to save those transfers for a rainy day, or act while their team is struggling. Like now.

The managers of the 199 teams that won precisely nothing in week three, and the 152 who collected just €500, might be tempted to swing the axe now, although if some of their players actually deigned to play in a tournament they might have some hope of smashing the zero earnings barrier next time around.

Of course it helps when you have an idea of what your players' plans are for the coming weeks, whether or not they've got themselves in to the field for any tournaments, whether or not they intend resting up for a while or getting down to some business and winning you, and themselves, some badly needed money.

Ronan Neacy, from Taylor's Hill in Galway, evidently had a notion that Vaughn Taylor, Peter Hedblom and Rich Beem would be taking week three off so replaced them in his Ryder Cup Champs line-up with Simon Dyson, Daniel Chopra and Stephen Leaney. The switches paid off handsomely enough, Dyson and Chopra winning €55,000 between them, although Leaney missed the cut in New Orleans.

Add in Raphael Jacquelin's cheque for €100,000 for winning the Asian Open, Graeme McDowell's top-10 finish in the same tournament and Mark Calcavecchia's share of fifth in New Orleans and you have yourself a winning week three total of €243,500.

And that's not bad at all for a 19-year-old competing in his very first Golf Masters, although he might have to postpone his fourball trip to Druid's Glen until after his Commerce exams at NUIG. When we tried to contact him yesterday he was buried under books in the library so his agent, who also happens to be his father, promised to pass on the good news. Tom also confirmed that Ronan only has two slots left to fill on his fourball line-up because he, Tom, has already nabbed one.

So, not only has Ronan topped the weekly leaderboard he's up to second overall, with another man bound for Druid's Glen, Eamon Murray, taking over from Alan Erskine at the top.

Edwin Humphreys, who led after week one, has dropped to 10th after only two of his Hardy Perennials turned up for duty in week three - and between them they won just €2,000.

Hats off to the two managers, Seamus O'Toole and Ger Ennis, who had both week three winners, Jacquelin and Nick Watney, in their line-ups, and to the 13 managers who hired Jacquelin just in time for his Asian Open victory.

But to the Derry manager who sacked Jacquelin from one of his teams on the eve of the Asian Open, what can we say? Ernie Els was the only one of our 11 €5 million-plus rated players in action last week, a fact that was anticipated by 51 managers who were shrewd enough to transfer him in before he won €47,750 at the Asian Open.

The strugglers amongst you will trust that week four's tournaments, the Spanish Open and the Byron Nelson Classic, will prove significantly more lucrative.