Tour News: As Michael Caine is known to remark: "Not many people know that." Which is also a sentiment that could very much be applied to the qualifying process for the Seve Trophy that actually ends with this week's German Masters in Cologne, where Padraig Harrington returns to competition after a two-week break to defend a title he won in the run-up to last year's Ryder Cup in Detroit.
But any comparison with the Ryder Cup and the Seve Trophy is stretching things. While players will fight tooth and nail to get a place on Europe's team for next year's match with the United States at the K Club - where, ironically, they are not paid - the same, unfortunately, cannot be said of the quest for places on either the Britain and Ireland or Continental Europe teams for a competition in the Wynyard Club in the north-east of England that does financially reward, and quite generously too, the participants.
In fact, the respective captains - Colin Montgomerie of Britain and Ireland and Jose Maria Olazabal of the Continent - won't know for certain until after the German Masters just who will feature in their teams, which are determined from the same qualifying process taking four each from a world points table and another four apiece from a European Tour table.
The uncertainty over the exact nature of the teams has nothing to do with an edge-of-the-seat qualifying race that is going down to the wire in Cologne, but rather with the fact that a number of those who are already assured of places won't be taking them up.
As things stand, the respective teams would comprise:
Britain and Ireland: Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Luke Donald, David Howell, Paul McGinley, Stephen Dodd, Ian Poulter, Bradley Dredge and Montgomery (plus a captain's pick).
Europe: Sergio Garcia, Thomas Bjorn, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Henrik Stenson, Niclas Fasth, Peter Hanson, Maarten Lafeber, Jean Francois Remesy and Olazabal (plus a captain's pick).
However, Clarke has already made it known that he won't be available - he will be undertaking commitments to sponsors in Asia when the event is staged on September 22nd to 25th - and, it seems, there are also doubts over the participation of Donald and Poulter.
Likewise, Garcia has also indicated to Olazabal that commitments in America will keep him away, which brings back memories of his remark when he also missed out in playing at Druids Glen in 2002 that: "If there was a clone of Sergio, I'd be able to play everywhere, every week, but unfortunately there's only one Sergio Garcia."
The concept of a Britain and Ireland team taking on the Continent may be a somewhat contrived one, but it still serves a useful product in blooding budding Ryder Cup players - and potential team-mates - for the demands of team matchplay.
Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, it hasn't quite caught the imagination of all the top players.
Still, for the upcoming match in a fortnight's time, captains Montgomerie and Olazabal have agreed to change the format for naming the players competing in the singles matches to move in line with the method used in the Ryder Cup.
Instead of giving one name at a time, both captains will submit a full list of their 10-man teams and these will be matched up to produce the final day singles pairings although, as in previous Seve Trophy events, the two captains will play each other in the first of the singles matches.
It will be the first time that Olazabal has played Montgomerie in matchplay since the final of the British Amateur Championship at Formby in 1984, when the Spaniard won the title.
Harrington, who has been a supporter of the competition since it was contrived, is already guaranteed his place on the Britain and Ireland team but of more immediate concern will be the defence of his title in the Linde German Masters in Cologne this week where he heads an Irish challenge that also includes Graeme McDowell, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane.
McDowell is returning to action for the first time since he was forced to withdraw in the first round of the NEC Invitational in Akron last month, the consequence of being a passenger in a car accident that left him with whiplash injuries. Paul McGinley decided to withdraw from the German Masters after booking his place in next week's HSBC World Matchplay, which offers the biggest prize in world golf (£1 million) to the winner. His Wentworth debut will see the Dubliner start a four-week stint that also takes in the Seve Trophy, the Dunhill links championship and the American Express Championship in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Clarke also returns to competitive fare this week, but on the Asian Tour rather than in Europe.
Clarke, and stablemate Lee Westwood, are playing in the revived Singapore Open in Sentosa before undertaking commitments to one of his main sponsors, Barclays, in the Far East.
For Michael Hoey, this week's appearance in the Telia Challenge in Sweden represents an opportunity to close in on the number-one position on the Challenge Tour.
After his maiden win in the BA-CA Open in Austria at the weekend, the Belfast man has moved to third on the Challenge Tour money list and within sight of leader Andrew Butterfield of England.
"My goal for now is to try and win the Challenge Tour Rankings," said Hoey, who is assured of his card on the full tour for next season.
"I feel I can do well on tour. If I can keep doing what I am doing, then I think I can succeed. I have finished in the top 12 a couple of times on the main tour, at Loch Lomond and in Dubai, and I would say that I am a far better player now that I was then."
Hoey feels winning in Austria has lifted a weight from his shoulders and there is no doubt that his caddie and old friend, Ryan McGuigan, has helped to shift the load. The two met at Castle Rock Golf Club near Coleraine, McGuigan's home town, and have been friends for 15 years.
McGuigan took a calculated gamble and quit the security of his job to go on the road with Hoey after a trial week at the St Omer Open in June and the bagman's gamble paid off.
OrderOfMerit
1 Michael Campbell (NZ)€1,775,372
2 Retief Goosen (SA) 1,557,910
3 Colin Montgomerie (Brit) 1,546,989
4 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 1,499,668
5 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 1,435,628
6 David Howell (Brit) 1,419,302
7 Paul McGinley (Ire) 1,161,083
8 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 1,101,987
9 Ernie Els (SA) 1,012,682
10 M A Jimenez (Spa) 986,653
11Sergio Garcia (Spain)978,947
12 Luke Donald (Brit) 975,821
13 Vijay Singh (Fij) 973,096
14 Stephen Dodd (Brit) 861,134
15 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 854,075
16 Nick O'Hern (Aus) 849,738
17 Ian Poulter (Brit) 823,359
18 Darren Clarke (Ire) 810,929
Other Irish:
41st P Lawrie 419,455
46th P Harrington 382,945
49th G McDowell 370,391
53rd D McGrane 355,181
77th G Murphy 268,517
185th D Higgins 44,017
192nd S Browne 36,254
203rd C Moriarty 30,100
219th M Hoey 22,252
274th P Walton 7,453
