EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS:THE REALITY for any professional golfer worth his salt is that playing, and more pertinently contending, in majors is what life on tour is primarily about.
Darren Clarke is more aware of this than anyone; and, now, his win in the BMW Asian Open - which dramatically halted a slide down the world rankings - could become a career defining one that ultimately enables him to refocus his goals to include actually winning a major title.
As things stand, Clarke, whose victory in Shanghai moved him to 112th in the latest world rankings, is not yet in the field for either the US Open in Torrey Pines in June or the British Open at Royal Birkdale in July.
Having missed out on the Masters and discovered he is not a good TV viewer when absent from big events, Clarke badly wants to rejoin the elite band of players who automatically make major fields.
To do so by right, Clarke - who will seek to continue his vein of form in this week's Spanish Open in Seville - will need to break into the world's top-50 by May 26th, the day after the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, which will have a record prize fund of €4.5 million. Those in the world's top 50 on that date will automatically get a place in the field for the US Open.
If Clarke does not manage to achieve that feat, he at least has a back-door chance as he has entered the US Open sectional qualifying at Walton Heath (the route taken by Michael Campbell when he won in 2005). That qualifying event takes place on June 2nd.
As far as the British Open in July is concerned, Clarke's options are greater: apart from gaining entry via the world's top-50, there are a number of mini-order-of-merit-based qualifying lists.
Probably the most pertinent one is that which finishes with the championship at Wentworth, when the top-three players from the top 20 on 2008 European Tour order of merit not previously exempt will earn a ticket to Birkdale.
As things stand, the top two on that particular list are two other Irishmen, Graeme McDowell and Damien McGrane. But Clarke, who has jumped to 14th on a money list where many are already exempt for Birkdale, now has a real chance of getting into the field without having to go through the pain of pre-qualifying.
Clarke, who had arrived in Shanghai as the 236th-ranked player in the world, and left as the 112th, knows that playing in the majors is also critical in his attempt to make Nick Faldo's European team for the Ryder Cup match in Kentucky in September.
"It's a realistic goal now," he conceded, adding: "I've given myself a bit of a boost. But there is still a long way to qualify for the team. There is nothing that helps your confidence like winning, whatever way you do it, and it feels good.
"My focus is to keep playing as good a (standard of) golf as I can and I do desperately want to be at Valhalla," added Clarke, whose win in China came about after biomechanics work with his trainer, Rob Watts, and on-the-range work with his coach, Ewan Murray.
He added: "I just want to keep playing the way I have been playing (in China). I want to keep playing golf. I think there is a lot of good golf in me yet and, as frustrating a time as it has been, it is nice to see the work paying off.
"Hopefully I will put myself in a position to challenge for tournaments a lot more frequently. Whether I win them or not is another matter.
"If I keep putting myself in position hopefully I will get my fair share. If anything, my win has given me renewed vigour to carry on and keep working because I want more of this."
Clarke is joined in the field in Seville by three other Irishmen.
Paul McGinley returns after a three-week break, while Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy are also competing. South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, an ISM stablemate of Clarke's, is the defending champion.
While Clarke headed westwards after his win in China (the 11th win of his European Tour career, moving him to fifth on the all-time money list with €15.9 million in prize money), Rory McIlroy headed eastwards to make a debut appearance in The Crowns tournament on the Japan Tour.
McIlroy is due to celebrate his 19th birthday on Sunday next.
Elsewhere, four Irish players are confirmed for the Moroccan Classic in El Jadida on the Challenge Tour: Colm Moriarty, Michael Hoey, Peter O'Keeffe and Stephen Browne will be hoping the rich vein of form from the main tour, which has seen McGrane and Clarke win in successive weeks, will prove catching.
Meanwhile, Lee Westwood has withdrawn from this week's Wachovia Championship on the US Tour because of a virus.
The Englishman, who took a fortnight's break after contending in the Masters, where he eventually finished tied-11th, was due to return to action this week but has delayed his comeback in the hope he will be able to play next week's Players championship in Sawgrass.
