Ryder Cup Spotlight - Team Europe

There are just five weeks left for European players to score Ryder Cup points on the European Tour before Ian Woosnam?s team is finalised ahead of the much-anticipated clash with the USA at Ireland?s K Club next month. Golf Monthly will now be updating this page twice a week ? before tournaments and afterwards ? so that readers have an accurate and up-to-date point of reference for the next few weeks. There will also be a completely separate section of the website, ?Ryder Cup 2006?, which will be launched closer to the start of the great event.

European Ryder Cup Standings ? 03/08/2006

Next tournament ? 2006 Scandinavian Masters, Barseback, Sweden

World Points List

Pos Player Points

1 DAVID HOWELL (Eng) 207.27

2 COLIN MONTGOMERIE (Sco) 205.90

3 JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL (Spa) 202.09

4 HENRIK STENSON (Swe) 200.76

5 LUKE DONALD (Eng) 192.24

6 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 187.96

7 Paul Casey (Eng) 165.33

8 Padraig Harrington (Ire) 154.45

9 Carl Petterson (Swe) 154.12

10 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 137.06

European Points List

Pos Player Points

1 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 2,413,016

2 David Howell (Eng) 2,274,635

3 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 1,782,888

4 PAUL CASEY (Eng) 1,721,833

5 ROBERT KARLSSON (Swe) 1,692,811

6 SERGIO GARCIA (Spa) 1,634,091

7 PADRAIG HARRINGTON (Ire) 1,514,027

8 PAUL MCGINLEY (Ire) 1,455,992

9 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 1,381,698

10 Paul Broadhurst (Eng) 1,336,905

* Capital letters denote players in the current qualifying positions. The top five players on the World List qualify automatically, and are joined by the top five players on the European List that have not already qualified via the World List. Captain Ian Woosnam then adds two wildcard picks. Scoring continues until 03/09/2006.

Scandinavian Masters ? Player Watch

With two more weeks left for points scoring than their American counterparts, many European stars have elected to give themselves a rest this week. There is a slightly disappointing turnout for the Scandinavian Masters in Sweden this weekend, and most observers will be focusing their attention on five of Sweden?s top players.

The Swedes were not represented at the 2004 Ryder Cup in the USA, but it is looking highly likely that there could be at least one or two of them present at the K Club. Henrik Stenson is the highest ranked Swede on the lists to date, and he is favourite with the bookmakers to win in his home country and as a result all but secure his place for the trip to Ireland.

Stenson is joined just outside Malmo by his compatriots Johan Edfors, Robert Karlsson, Carl Pettersson and Niclas Fasth. Edfors and Karlsson are both multiple winners on the European Tour this season, while Petterson won the Memorial tournament in the USA in June and finished eighth at the Open Championship. Fasth, a veteran of the 2002 Ryder Cup, completes the quartet of Swedes that will be hoping to climb the points table and join Stenson near the top.

Potential Movers: Robert Karlsson (Swe), Carl Petterson (Swe), Johan Edfors (Swe), Niclas Fasth (Swe)