Madeira offers fringe men last chance to qualify

GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR/Seve Trophy: His fall from grace - in the rankings - may be such that Seve Ballesteros will find himself on an island in mid-Atlantic this week while the world's top players are involved in The Players' Championship, yet the Spaniard's participation in the Madeira Island Open means he will be on-site when the automatic places on the Continental Europe for next month's Seve Trophy are finalised.

Originally due to be completed on March 31st, the automatic places on the two teams - Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe - will actually be determined a week earlier because of the decision to incorporate the Canaries Open (previously scheduled for next week) with the Spanish Open.

As such, this week's Madeira Island Open represents the last opportunity for those on the fringes of automatic selection to force their way into the team. Indeed, Steve Webster - currently in ninth place in the GB&I qualifying table - and Andrew Oldcorn, who is 11th, will attempt to overhaul eighth-placed Paul Casey who has spent much of the early season playing in the United States. A top-10 finish would be sufficient for Webster to secure an automatic place, but Oldcorn requires a top-three spot to edge out Casey, who currently holds the last automatic place.

Although Ballesteros competes in the match - which takes place at Druids Glen on April 19th-21st - by virtue of his captaincy of the Continental Europe team (the 10-man team will be completed by a captain's pick), the situation on the Britain and Ireland team is not as clear cut.

Colin Montgomerie, also entitled to automatic selection as team captain, has played his way onto the GB&I team, which gives him the option of either going down the table to select the ninth-placed player along with one captain's pick, or alternatively opting to use two captain's picks.

Des Smyth, meanwhile, defends his Madeira Island Open title. In winning last year, he became the oldest winner of a European Tour event. Other Irish players entered in the tournament are David Higgins, Philip Walton, Peter Lawrie, Gary Murphy and Paddy Gribben.