While the cat's away, the mice will play. And Colin Montgomerie's absence from the field for this week's Belgacom Open at Royal Zoute certainly opens the door for a number of Europe's Ryder Cup team to chase a title.

Defending champion Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Paul Lawrie and Jean Van de Velde are the Brookline representatives in the field and the novelty factor is provided by the inclusion of John Daly. Everyone knows the big-hitting American can play a bit, but even odds of 80 to 1 are not too tempting at the present time as he attempts to get over his personal problems.

Westwood has been installed as 5 to 1 favourite to take the title and perhaps reignite his chase of Montgomerie at the top of the Order of Merit, while Tomas Bjorn, back in the winner's enclosure in the Sarazen Open last weekend, is a 14 to 1 chance. Best value, though, could come from a player unlucky not to get the wild card pick for Boston and, ironically, the man who didn't pick him. Robert Karlsson finished 11th in the European Ryder Cup table but was overlooked and showed his liking for this course last year when finishing tied-third. The odds of 33 to 1 on the Swede this week are pretty tempting, while the odds of 66 to 1 on Europe's captain Mark James make him an attractive each-way bet.

5-1 - Lee Westwood (England).

7-1 - Darren Clarke (Ireland).

14-1 - Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Retief Goosen (South Africa).

25-1 - Bernhard Langer (Germany), Greg Turner (New Zealand), Ian Woosnam (Wales).

28-1 - Alex Cejka (Germany).

33-1 - Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Paul Lawrie (Scotland), Peter Mitchell (England), Katsu Tomori (Japan).

40-1 - Peter Baker (England), PerUlrik Johansson (Sweden), Stephen Leaney (Australia), Miguel Martin (Spain).

50-1 - Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Paul McGinley (Ireland), Patrik Sjoland (Sweden), Jean Van de Velde (France).

Selected others - 66-1 - Mark James (England). 80-1 - John Daly (USA).

Prices supplied by Ladbrokes Ireland.