Golf - European Tour: Graeme McDowell's sixth-place finish (56,000) at the weekend in the European Masters at the Crans-sur-Sierre club in Switzerland propelled him to 12th place on the European Tour's Volvo Order of Merit and virtually assured him of a place at the World Golf Championship American Express tournament at Mount Juliet from September 30th-October 3rd.
The top 20 in the Order of Merit qualify for the American Express Championship and with earnings thus far of €920,162.80, the young Irishman is more than €200,000 ahead of 20th-placed Scott Drummond. There are only two more counting tournaments ahead of the Mount Juliet event, the German Masters at Gut Lärchenhof that begins on Thursday and The Heritage at Woburn, which takes place the week after the Ryder Cup.
McDowell has also put himself in position to earn an exemption for next year's British Open, in which he made his debut in a major this year. That honour is afforded to those who finish in the top 15 in the Order of Merit at the conclusion of this season's European tour schedule.
There is also the possibility that McDowell could play for Ireland at the European Tour season-ending World Cup, which takes place in Spain. Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley have represented Ireland since 1997 in the event - Darren Clarke waiving his right to play last time - but McDowell has forged ahead of McGinley in the standings.
According to a European Tour spokesperson: "Qualification for the first player on the 18 teams for the World Cup will be taken from the official world rankings on September 20th - that is the highest-ranked player from each competing nation at that date.
"At the moment the 18 players who qualify will be in a position to choose their partner provided the latter are in the top 100 in the world rankings, although we have to seek clarification on the method of qualification for the second player."
Last season it was the highest- ranked golfer in the world rankings and the highest ranked, in Ireland's case, in the Order of Merit, that filled those places and those criteria may apply again.
McDowell's form this season has been largely excellent, confirming his potential when turning professional in 2002. In only his fourth start on the European Tour he won that year's Volvo Scandinavian Masters at Kunsängen Golf Club, whom he now represents. He finished the season in 56th place on the Order of Merit from only 13 starts.
Last season he endured the frustration of making swing changes (he finished 96th), working with Butch Harmon and his team of coaches in Las Vegas, and this year he has reaped the rewards. He won the Italian Open following a Monday morning play-off with France's Thomas Levet and had a further six top-10 finishes, including runner-up at the Diageo Championship at Gleneagles.
He heads for the German Masters this week where he will be joined by 10 of Europe's Ryder Cup team. Only Luke Donald, who won in Crans-sur-Sierre at the weekend, and Sergio Garcia have elected to forego competitive fare in the build-up to the Ryder Cup clash the following week at Oakland Hills.
European team captain Bernhard Langer is a four-time winner of this tournament (1989, 1991, 1997 and 2001) and along with his brother Erwin is a co-promoter. One suspects the German will use the opportunity for team bonding and possibly teasing out some of his prospective fourball and foursomes pairings with the players.
Langer will be especially pleased with the form shown by most of his team. Ian Poulter and Paul McGinley demonstrated tremendous resolve in securing their places; Miguel Angel Jimenez, Sergio Garcia and Donald fought it out at the top of the leaderboard in Switzerland, while Clarke also shows continued good form.
What the European captain would probably most wish for this week is a return to the business end of tournaments for Harrington. The Irishman has a decent pedigree for success this week having been beaten in a play-off by Garcia for the title in 1999. Clarke is another with an affinity for this tournament, having shot a closing round 63 en route to winning the title in 1996.
The favourite's tag, though, probably rests with Jimenez. He has been in outstanding form this season, winning four times, including on the Tour's last visit to Germany when the Spaniard prevailed at the BMW International Open. He finished second here last year.
Apart from Harrington, Clarke, McDowell and McGinley (he has withdrawn from the pro-am and will arrive in Germany on Wednesday evening), the Irish contingent will be boosted by the presence of Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy.
British Open champion Todd Hamilton returns to Europe for the first time since that success and will be hoping for a strong showing, as will defending champion KJ Choi.
EUROPEAN ORDER OF MERIT - Other Irish placings: 83 Peter Lawrie €210,998.27; 87 Gary Murphy 207,501.80; 94 Damien McGrane 183, 808.35.
