Bjorn is ready for Ryder battle

Darren Clarke will have circumnavigated the globe by the time he returns from the $5 million AmEx world golf championship in St Louis later this week, having taken in the Suntory Open in Japan en route, but another European Ryder Cup player won't be making any journey further than the one into London - from his home on the city's outskirts - to see his medical specialist.

While Thomas Bjorn's weekend scare over his injured shoulder, which forced him out of the European Masters, may turn out to be just that, a scare, he has still taken the precaution of withdrawing from the AmEx strokeplay, which starts on Thursday. However, two visits over the past two days to his Harley Street specialist has left the Dane confident that he should be fit for the Ryder Cup in just under three weeks time.

"It's not as bad as was first feared," remarked Bjorn's manager, Guy Kinnings, who confirmed that Bjorn will play in next week's Lancome Trophy in Paris, the final European Tour event before the Ryder Cup.

In the meantime, England's Ian Poulter - who finished 11th in the European Ryder Cup qualifying table - has been kept on stand-by by captain Sam Torrance. Interestingly, when Padraig Harrington finished 11th in the qualifying table in 1997, and Miguel Angel Martin later was forced to withdraw because of injury, the team captain Seve Ballesteros didn't go down the list but, instead, opted to draft in Jose Maria Olazabal.

Ironically enough, Poulter also withdrew from the European Masters with a collarbone injury - but, before heading off to St Louis, he pronounced himself "100 per cent fit," and available should Torrance require him.

Poulter only secured his place in the field for the AmEx on Sunday night after Australian Peter O'Malley failed to overtake him in the Order of Merit, and flew out to the big-money event with the news that, even if he does not get a late call-up to the Ryder Cup, he will at least be making his debut in the World Cup in Japan in November where he will partner Warren Bennett in England's two-man team. With Lee Westwood unavailable, Poulter is the highest placed Englishman - at 76th - in the world rankings.

Clarke, meanwhile, has confirmed that he will not be playing in the World Cup - it takes place at the Taiheyo Club in Gotemba on November 15th-18th - which means that Harrington and Paul McGinley, who won the event at Kiawah Island in 1997 when it was not part of the WGC series of tournaments, will again be reunited for the championship.

As world number eight, Clarke would have qualified automatically for the Irish team. And, although he has enjoyed considerable success in Japan, where he won the Crowns tournament earlier in the season and then finished second to Shingo Katayama in the Suntory Open last Sunday (when a double bogey six on the 11th hole to Katayama's birdie constituted a three-shot swing and the difference between the two players in the end), Clarke has decided to allow the Harrington- McGinley partnership to remain intact. Harrington qualifies off the world rankings, and McGinley from his Order of Merit position.

If Clarke had managed to win the Suntory, he would have become top-ranked European player in the world. However, the runners-up spot in Japan wasn't sufficient to enable him to overtake seventh-ranked Sergio Garcia, so Clarke remains one place behind him in the latest list. Harrington, meanwhile, remains in 13th place but Katayama's win pushed McGinley back down to 42nd position.

All three Irishman are in the field for the AmEx, and the tournament in fact will be their last appearances before the Ryder Cup.

While the Irish trio will use the St Louis tournament as the final warm-up tournament before heading to the Belfry, world number one Tiger Woods will take in the Lancome Trophy. Woods hasn't finished any better than 20th in four of his last five tournaments, the notable exception being his play-off win over Jim Furyk in the WGC-NEC Invitational, but he will still start the AmEx as favourite.

Indeed, in terms of a marketing ploy, those associated with Mount Juliet will probably be hoping that, should their own touring professional Harrington not win this week's event in St Louis, then Woods is the one they would like to see defending the trophy when the AmEx is played at the Thomastown course next September. Already, marketing catch-phrases along the lines of "The Biggest Cat of All is Coming to Kilkenny" are being planned for Woods's appearance in a year's time.