Dr Michael Smurfit is poised to consolidate his campaign to play host to the 2005 Ryder Cup at The K Club by increasing the prize fund for the Smurfit European Open at the Straffan course on August 20th to 23rd to over £1 million, making it the richest tournament ever to be staged in Ireland and only the fifth on the European Tour to offer a seven-figure purse. Although an actual decision, to be taken by the PGA European Tour, on the venue for the Ryder Cup match in 2005 won't be made for another two years, The K Club is already a strong favourite to stage the encounter between Europe and the United States. Smurfit can strengthen his hand considerably by swelling the financial rewards on offer at the European Open and discussions have taken place between the sponsors and the Tour, with further talks scheduled for this week. An official announcement confirming that the European Open will break the £1 million prize fund barrier is expected shortly.

Only two years ago, the European Tour - which starts its 1998 season with the Johnnie Walker Classic in Phuket, Thailand, on Thursday - reached a milestone when it had its first £1 million event outside of the British Open. As yet, there are no final figures for the actual prize money to be played for on the European Tour this season, however, all the indications are that it will represent a healthy increase on last season, with the British Open, Volvo PGA, the Tournament Players' Championship in Hamburg and the end-of-season Volvo Masters all committed already to purses in excess of £1 million. The European Open (which has been sponsored by Smurfit for the past three years with an agreement stretching into the new millennium) is this year set to become the fifth tournament to reach that level of prize money, underscoring Smurfit's commitment to make the event one of the most prized on the circuit and also his desire to bring the Ryder Cup to the Arnold Palmer-designed K Club course. Indeed, Ken Schofield, the executive director of the European Tour, believes that any enhancement of the European Open prize fund could have a knock-on effect, with other tournaments, possibly including the Murphy's Irish Open, also agreeing to seven-figure purses and, consequently, giving a further vote of confidence to the home tour, which had just over £10 million in total prize money in 1989, but last season broke through the £30 million for the first time.

"If the European Open offers £1 million, I can see sponsors of other tournaments like the Irish Open and the Loch Lomond not wanting to be left behind," said Schofield. Last year's European Open had a prize fund of £851,275, while the Irish Open last season offered almost £700,000. So, despite pressure from the US Tour, where prize funds have reached record levels with every tournament worth at least £200,000 more than it was last year, things also appear to be on the up for the European Tour as the season tees-off in faraway Phuket this week. Indeed, a posse of big-name US Tour players - among them Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Ernie Els and Nick Faldo - are forsaking the Phoenix Open to play in Thailand instead. The Irish representation in Phuket may be small in quantity, but it is high on quality. Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley will recommence competitive play for the first time since winning the World Cup at Kiawah Island last November and they are joined by Philip Walton and Raymond Burns, making it a strong quartet of Irish challengers. Harrington and McGinley start out the season with similar objectives: to break into the top 50 in the official world golf rankings. With a limited World Tour starting next year, confined to the top 50 players in those rankings, the two Dubliners (who didn't receive any points for their World Cup triumph, despite the irony of that event being chosen to be a part of the new World Tour) need to move up the ladder. Harrington is currently 78th in the world listings, with McGinley placed in 103rd position. Incidentally, Darren Clarke, whose first European Tour event of the season will be the Dubai Classic next month, has a world ranking of 35th position.