Consistency the basis for Irish confidence

SELDOM, if ever, has an Irish team approached the Alfred Dunhill Cup with such a degree of confidence. It's not just Darren Clarke's win in the German Masters which has provided the inspiration heading into the £1 million 16-team event starting at St Andrews tomorrow, but also the current form of his teammates Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley.

Indeed, an indication of the heightened expectations of the Irish trio as they attempt to regain a title last claimed in 1990 - when Philip Walton, David Feherty and Ronan Rafferty comprised the three-man team is that the bookmakers continue to prune their odds. Ireland were widely on offer at 14 to 1 on Saturday last; came down to 10 to 1 on Monday, and dropped to 8 to 1 yesterday.

The downward trend in the Irish odds reflects increased confidence in the trio, who dominated last weekend's German Masters, and, despite the presence of three of the top four players in the latest Sony world rankings in the line-up, the quite favourable past record of Irish teams (winners in 1988 and 1990) is also a factor.

It is worth taking a look at the respective finishes of, Messrs Clarke, Harrington and McGinley in the last five tournaments on the European Tour: the Canon European Masters, the Lancome Trophy, the Loch Lomond Invitational, the Smurfit European Open and the German Masters.

Clarke, who had managed to break into the top ten just twice in 20 tournaments prior to the European Masters, has finished 7T-45T-6T-24T-1 in the last five events; Spanish Open champion Harrington has gone 18T-7T-39T-10T-8T in the same period while Austrian Open winner McGinley went DNP-66T-29T-14T-5T in that spell.

Such consistency and the liking for links courses should conspire to make whichever of the top four seeds finds Ireland in the same four-team group just a little wary. The draw will be made in the Old Course Hotel at lunchtime today, with a round-robin medal strokeplay format in use over the opening three days. The four group winners will progress to Sunday morning's semi-finals with the final scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Each member of the winning team will receive £100,000.

There is considerable strength-in-depth in the event, however, with world number one Greg Norman (Australia), world number two Colin Montgomerie (Scotland) and world number four Ernie Els (South Africa) all competing. Montgomerie forms part of a Scottish contingent with Andrew Coltart and Raymond Russell who are defending the title. Zimbabwe, last year's runners-up, are led by 1994 British Open and US PGA champion, Nick Price.

Of the 16 teams competing, India are the only one making their debuts in the tournament. Their team of former Indian Open champion Ali Sher, Jeev Milka Singh and Gaurav Ghei will be amongst the rank outsiders for the title. However, the memory of Paraguay's win over Scotland a number of years ago - and Montgomerie's pre-tournament quip, "if we can't beat them, we might as well go home" - will serve as a warning to all of the "big guns," including Ireland.

Meanwhile, the event is likely to stay at St Andrews for another three years despite rumours that this week's championship could be the last, a top official said yesterday.

Tournament director Peter German said discussions were underway with the company who have supported the three-man team event throughout its 12-year history to renew their contract for another three years.

"We hope to have the contract in place by the end of this week, or if not, very soon after," German said. "I'm confident it will continue for at least one year and, I hope, for three years."

Reports last year that this week's event could be the last, stemmed from dissatisfaction about the bad weather that has often plagued St Andrews in October.

German dismissed suggestions that the event might be moved away from the Old Course, the "home of golf". "It will be at St Andrews if it is held anywhere," he said, adding that next year's date would also be in October because of the Ryder Cup in Spain late in September.

But from 1998, he envisaged a move to late September, he said.

The growth of the Jameson International Golf Challenge - which takes place at Killarney (Killeen), Ballybunion (New) and Waterville starting tomorrow and concluding on Saturday - is reflected in the necessity to hold qualifying competitions in seven countries: Australia, Holland Japan, Germany, Sweden, Turkey and South Africa.

This year's field will comprise 270 participants from 16 countries who will compete in the fourth annual competition with defending champions Walter Scott, Terry Hickman, Donal McSullivan and Rick Blake returning to defend their crown.