AS MANY as 28 "home" players, will be in the field for next week's Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen. But they will not include John McHenry who made such a marvellous contribution to the 1993 event in which he was tied for the lead after each of the first three rounds before finishing in a share of 14th place behind Nick Faldo.

McHenry, who would have been given a sponsor's invitation, has been forced to opt out of the event because of an ongoing wrist injury. It is a particularly bad blow to a player who seemed to gain inspiration from the home supporters as he did two years ago when, in an otherwise disappointing season, he shared 15th place behind Bernhard Langer.

Francis Howley gets into the tournament through the Irish Order of Merit, but the position regarding David Higgins has yet to be clarified. The Waterville player will certainly be in the field but the sponsors are waiting until after this weekend to learn whether he gains automatic entry by finishing in the top 10 of the French Open.

The 10 exempted through the Irish Order of Merit are Howley, Brendan McGovern, Jimmy Heggarty, Stephen Hamill, David Jones, Karl O'Donnell, Paul Russell, Damien McGrane, John Dignam and Damian Mooney. There are also four amateurs nominated by the GUI, along with Irish professionals Eoghan O'Connell, Gary Murphy and David Errity who get sponsor's invitations.

Then there are established European Tour campaigners such as Philip Walton, Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Ronan Rafferty, David Feherty, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Raymond Burns and, of course, Padraig Harrington who, as the recently crowned Spanish Open champion, can be considered to have joined their ranks.

Meanwhile, other sponsor's invitations have gone to Ernie Els (South Africa), Manuel Pinero (Spain), Gordon Sherry (Scotland), Bradley Hughes (Australia) and Brendan Pappas (South Africa).