Vaughn tips balance to favour Perennials

Tuesday of this week, you might have read, was declared "Zach Johnson Day" by the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Kay Halloran, who hailed the Masters winner as a man who "stayed true to his Iowa values and midwest charm".

By then, though - Sunday night, to be precise - Johnson had belied his Golf Masters' value (a snip at 2.7 million) and had charmed the living daylights out of his 385 managers by giving them a dream start to the 2007 competition.

To put it in stark terms, Johnson won 200,000 more for his managers than 14 entire line-ups earned for their employers - yes, you read right, 14 teams earned not a euro in week one. The only way, literally, is up.

But the manager we have most sympathy for is Mark Dwyer of Rathmichael, Co Dublin, whose Zappa 4 produced a stupendously good showing at Augusta: three of his players, including Johnson, finished in the top five, with Tim Clark and Rich Beem chipping in with another 55,500.

Zappa 4, then, earned Mark a whopping 465,500 in week one, which really, if there was any justice in this Golf Masters' world, should have had him bound for a fourball at Druids Glen, decked out in a brand new Nike windvest. But along came Edwin Humphreys' Hardy Perennials; their performance left the Zappa 4 men feeling like a bunch of tulips.

Johnson, Justin Rose and Jerry Kelly featured in both teams, but ultimately it was Vaughn Taylor's share of 10th place that made the difference, with the Perennials' bringing in an eye-popping 477,000.

Edwin, a Golf Masters veteran, had only won a polo shirt before, so we're barely up and running when our Dublin manager has topped his previous best - by some distance. We therefore declare today "Edwin Humphreys Day", and hope Mark will have his day in the Golf Masters sun very soon.

So, there are just the 23 weeks for Edwin to hold on to top spot on our leaderboard, and if he can manage it he'll find himself 20,000 the richer.

Next up for Edwin and all those trailing in his wake is the China Open at the Shanghai Silport Club, and the Heritage Classic in South Carolina, where Johnson will be in action.

While it might be a little like shutting the stable door after Zach has bolted, we suspect the Iowa man will find himself transferred in to more than a few teams for week two, an honour we sincerely hope befalls Glen Day - he might have been raised in Poplarville, Mississippi, but he's not proving too "poplar" with you. In fact, he's the least popular man in the competition.

We've had golfers in the past who were ruled out for the whole season through injury, but they still managed to remain in a few dozen teams. Glen is employed by a single manager, which suggests to us that, at €2.8 million, the rest of you thought he was a touch overpriced.

At the registration stage, Matthew Goggin (five teams) and Joe Durant (eight) didn't have all that many more admirers, but like Day are in the field for the Heritage. Will they prove to be hardy perennials this Golf Masters season, or, as you all seem to suspect, shrinking violets?

e-mail: maryhann@indigo.ie