Colin Byrne's Column: The Madrid Open at Club de Campo was to be the last event of the 2003 season for those players outside the top 60 on the Volvo Order Of Merit.

Traditionally it is the event where the jostling for top 115th position and playing rights for next year takes place.

As it happened, this was not the case this year as most of those players outside the qualifying position missed the cut, thus reducing the interest in the tour card competition which has frequently distracted attention from the top of the leader board.

It is extremely difficult to win a tournament. The pressures, the strange feelings that come over a potential winner in an unfamiliar position, are intense. This intensity is multiplied when you find yourself in the precarious position of trying to keep your playing rights for the following year. It is not just the fear of failure that takes hold of your emotions. There is also the consideration of having to face the tour school, losing your sponsorship and effectively losing your job.

Try telling a middle-aged man to go back to school with kids decades his junior. People who have done much of what the young hopefuls dream of accomplishing, like winning events and playing in the Ryder Cup. It is humbling for the past champions to raise their spirits and go back to school for a refresher course and a sterner test than they faced when they began their careers as professionals.

Having been in the company of numerous players in such a position over the last few weeks the tension is painfully obvious. I have heard such players talk about the support and comforting words from friends and well-wishers who can probably only ever look at golf from an amateur, leisurely, perspective. "It's not the end of the world, is it?" is the common response.

The reality for those on the edge is that it is possibly the end of "their" world. Many of these players have played golf for most of their adult lives. The thought of losing their playing rights is indeed the end of a very big part of their lives.

Marc Farry, Paul Eales, Greg Turner, Sven Struver and Gordon Brand Junior have all spent decades traipsing the fairways of Europe. With many wins between them and a wealth of invaluable experience behind them, they are suddenly faced with the choice of, a) one more go at the tour school, or b) move aside and try something else. For some it is akin to a prisoner sentenced to life facing the uncertainty of freedom.

Success is the cruel measure of golf and of professional sport in general. Your very existence as a professional sports person is based purely on success. I am aware that people in all walks of life face more demanding circumstances in their work place with the modern emphasis on cut throat capitalism. But your worth on an Order of Merit is quite clear in golf. How many euros appear after your name? That is what you are worth. If you don't have the required amount beside your name, in the final analysis, you are out of a job.

For some it is a situation they thrive on, and they are the survivors. For others it is not good enough to know you have a special talent and you work hard to improve upon it. It is not good enough to know that you can hit a drive 290 yards on average. A seven-iron will fly 170 yards in normal conditions and you can two-putt most greens and, hopefully, single putt a few. But if you cannot bring a score home four days in a row under the scrutiny of expectant crowds and TV cameras it's time for a career change no matter how much talent you know you possess.

So the Madrid Open proved to be a failure for many hoping to avoid the final Tour School, which starts next week in northern Spain. Those outside the top 150 on the Order Of Merit have to go through the pre-qualifying for the final stage, also in northern Spain this week.

But the week proved to be a great success for Ricardo Gonzalez from Argentina.

The amiable, bear-like man from Rosario in northern Argentina hits the ball like his compatriots, Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero, with ferocity. Ricardo shot 11-under on the weekend and stole the tournament while everyone was looking at the usual suspects, Harrington, Casey or Garcia, for a winner.

Gonzalez is the most courteous and respectful of golfers. The type you would wish to be drawn to play with every week. We had the pleasure to play with him on Sunday last. When either Paul Lawrie or our other playing partner, Marten Olander, hit a putt that looked like it had a chance of going in, he encouraged it verbally towards the hole. These days, so many golfers are so wrapped up in their own games that your best shots, which traditionally received acclaim, are greeted with deafening silence.

Ricardo's victory in Madrid last week means that he gets a chance to continue his good form in Valderrama next week.

He has catapulted himself into the top 60 and earned a chance to get some of the rich spoils of the final showpiece of the European season.

Gonzalez's story is the reason that so many golfers put themselves through the rigours of trying to keep their playing rights each year.