GOLF THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPIF SERGIO Garcia, Justin Rose, Pádraig Harrington or any one of the 21 European players in the field at The Players this week had the inclination to survey the "Circle of Champions", a monument of sorts strategically located between the clubhouse and the driving range and en route to the first tee, a rather stark statistic would strike home.

On the circular wall, individual plaques to commemorate past champions, year by year, have been attached. It's a roll call of the mighty, and the not so mighty: Jack Nicklaus 1974, Fred Couples 1984, Greg Norman 1994, Craig Perks 2002, all the way to Phil Mickelson 2007.

Of the 34 names inscribed, only one is that of a European: Sandy Lyle in 1987. Otherwise, The Players has proven a barren tournament in terms of ultimate success for European invaders.

Why? "I can't figure it out," said Harrington.

Lee Westwood was of a similar mind: "I don't know, to be honest. I've no real idea, because it should suit us, especially now it is played in May when the course is hard and fast-running."

Some have gone close, none more so in recent years than Harrington, who has twice finished runner-up - to Davis Love in 2003 and Adam Scott in 2004 - while Garcia was second to Mickelson last year. Others to contend have included Henrik Stenson (third in 2006), Luke Donald (runner-up to Fred Funk in 2005) and Bernhard Langer (third behind Tiger Woods in 2001).

But, apart from Lyle, no European has managed to get his name on the "Circle of Champions" and had the honour traditionally bestowed on the winner of having his national flag fly in the centre of the piece.

"I've no idea, no idea," remarked Jim Furyk when asked why Europeans had managed only one win. "Why they haven't won, it's just too long a trend."

Harrington, for his part, feels no added pressure in attempting to reverse the trend. "I don't hold the burden that no European has won since Sandy Lyle. I'm an individual out here trying to compete against the other 143 guys. I can't figure out why or if there is a reason that Europeans haven't won . . . but we must be due. Since 1987? Yes, we must be due. It means I have a 21-in-one chance if it's a numbers game. But, unfortunately, the other players in the field aren't going to consider there are 21 Europeans and they deserve a chance to win."

Furyk, in attempting to solve the riddle, observed the TPC at Sawgrass is a "stereotypical American golf course as far as (being) target-orientated, water-orientated down the stretch."

And, in the past, Furyk's viewpoint might have been true. Not so much nowadays, however. As Harrington pointed out, "in the last six or seven years, we play more target golf (on the European Tour) than is played in the US. Our golf courses tend to have higher rough, narrower fairways, softer greens while the courses here tend to be wider and a little bit faster with definitely firmer greens."

One reason put forward by Westwood for past failings is, until recent years, there weren't many European players playing.

"We've contended fairly well (recently)," he said. "Pádraig could have won a couple of years back when Adam (Scott) got up and down on the last hole . . . and I played in the last group once with Luke Donald when he had a good chance. I suppose it's a bit of a numbers game, that we don't have that many players playing . . . but the course should suit us now that it is played in May when the course is hard and fast-running."

If there is to be a European winner to end that drought since Lyle's victory in 1987, the number crunchers would have to favour a Swede. There are seven Swedes in the field - Henrik Stenson, Niclas Fasth, Carl Petterson, Daniel Chopra, Mathias Gronberg, Fredrik Jacobson and Jesper Parnevik - with the next highest European representation being six (Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Brian Davis, Paul Casey) from England.

So, will this year see the end to that particular European drought? Harrington, who put an end to the major drought when capturing the British Open last year, isn't putting his head on the block. "Let's go to the numbers game . . . I think a European will win within the next 50 or 100 years."