WHILE Paul McGinley was attempting, unsuccessfully, to achieve a European Tour breakthrough in Perth last Sunday, a disturbing parallel was prompted by an item regarding Roger Chapman. The £3,933 which the Englishman collected for a share of 25th place in the Heineken Classic, was sufficient to push him past the £1 million figure in career earnings - without a tournament victory.

Comparisons between McGinley and Chapman are valid, given their amateur background and the Irishman's latest disappointment in finishing runner up to Ian Woosnam at The Vines. As amateurs, both players won their national championship before going on to Walker Cup honours.

Chapman had become one of Europe's outstanding amateurs when I watched him beat Ronan Rafferty in a play off for the Lytham Trophy in 1981. Later that year, he performed brilliantly in the Walker Cup at Cypress Point where he followed a singles win over Bob Lewis on the opening day with two further points on the second day.

Indeed, this was achieved with some style insofar as he partnered Paul Way to a one hole foursomes win over the formidable combination of Hal Sutton and Jay Sigel and then beat Sutton in the top singles of the afternoon, also on the 18th. A glittering professional career beckoned.

Having come through the Qualifying School in November 1981 Chapman has now completed 14 seasons on tour. During that period he almost invariably claimed a place in the top 50 of the Order of Merit. But he failed to win. In fact he was runner up on five occasions, including a play off defeat by Des Smyth at the fifth tie hole of the 1988 Jersey Open and to Jose Maria Olazabal in the Dutch Open the following year.

Yet at 36, Chapman remains an accomplished practitioner, as Irish observers would have noted in the Smurfit European Open at The K Club last September, when a course record second round of 66 earned him a £3,000 bonus.

McGinley has now had four runner up placings on the European Tour and he was also in a strong position to win the Portuguese Open last March, when he eventually finished fourth behind Adam Hunter. Like Chapman, he has had two play off defeats, by Costantino Rocca in the 1993 French Open and by Olazabal in the Mediterranean Open the following year. And the hurt was intensified on the home front last season when he finished runner up to Philip Walton in the Smurfit Irish Professional Championship and to Smyth in the Glen Dimplex International Matchplay Championship.

Still, the player is not concerned about his latest setback. "Now that I've got over the initial disappointment, I look on Sunday's performance as a definite plus," he said yesterday. "I was either leader or joint leader from the eighth hole until the finish and I thought I coped well on a very difficult course. In fact I'm looking forward to having a really good season."

He attributed his strong, early season form - he was tied 14th in Singapore the previous week - to some perceptive comments from his manager, Andrew Chandler. "Towards the end of last season, he suggested that I hadn't been working as hard on my game as in previous years. So I took his comments to heart, went out to San Diego and got in some very useful practice before Christmas. It's now paying dividends."

Effectively, McGinley's failure to gain an anticipated birdie on the 520 yard-18th cost him a play off with Woosnam. His play of the hole involved two problem shots, a pushed drive into rough from where he hit a 230 yard, three wood second shot into a greenside trap. His position towards the front of the bunker appeared to indicate a favourable recovery but he had a poor lie in a rake mark and exploded too strongly.

Though the 29 year old Dubliner doesn't have to concern himself with such mundane, matters as retaining his card for next season, it is nonetheless reassuring that he has already earned sufficient money to meet that requirement - after only two tournaments. He and colleague Darren Clarke are now taking this week off while other Irish challengers travel to South Africa for the Dimension Data tournament, starting at Sun City on Thursday.

Though it has a pro am format, this is a full, European Tour event which marks the season's debut for Philip Walton, Des Smyth, Eamonn Darcy and David Feherty. I understand that Feherty has agreed a divorce settlement with his estranged wife, Caroline, which means that the Ulsterman is now ready to concentrate on his golfing career once more.

He will be remaining in South Africa for the Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship and the FNB Players' Championship over the next two weeks. Feherty, who failed to regain his player's card at the US Tour School before Christmas, will then be returning to Dallas at the end of this month in the hope of joining the so called Florida Swing on sponsors' invitations.

Meanwhile, this is a particularly notable week for Francis Howley, Ireland's most impressive graduate from the Tour School. By claiming 154th place in the field of 155 for Sun City, Howley is set to make his European Tour debut. Padraig Harrington missed out by four places and another young Irish player, David Higgins, will be seeking a place through today's pre qualifying at Crown Mines, Johannesburg. So, the Irish challengers at this stage are: Rafferty, Walton, Feherty, Darcy, Smyth, John McHenry, Raymond Burns and Howley.

Though the Pebble Beach Pro Am was curtailed by rain in 1974 (won by Johnny Miller), 1981 (John Cook) and 1986 (Fuzzy Zoeller), it had taken a world war to cause the tournament's abandonment - until last weekend. Launched in 1937 as the Bing Crosby Professional Amateur at Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego where Sam Snead had a winning score of 68, the event continued, albeit in various guises, in an unbroken sequence, apart from a gap from 1943 to 1946.

The problem last weekend concerned Spyglass Hill where two holes were Waterlogged. In a desperate bid to complete the obligatory third round on Sunday, it was suggested that players could tee up the ball on the affected 16th. This was rejected as inequitable, however, due to the fact that a section of the field had already played the course without such a concession. So, without the cut being reached, each competitor was given $5,000 in unofficial money.

When Saturday's third round was washed out, there was the fascinating development of a celebrity shoot out, so as to fill the coast to coast CBS television schedule. Apart from providing off beat entertainment, the exercise revealed a side of Nick Faldo not often seen on this side of the Atlantic.

Entering enthusiastically into the spirit of what became a decidedly light hearted occasion, Faldo donned a shoulder length wig and proceeded to act as caddie for his amateur partner, US singer Huey Lewis: the Americanisation of Faldo is clearly progressing favourably. Finally, and not that it mattered a whit, the celebrity shoot out was won by the partnership of comedian Bill Murray and country and western singer Glen Campbell.

Victory in Perth where, incidentally, he shot miserable rounds of 81 and 78 on his last visit, has lifted Woosnam to 26th in the World Rankings.