GOLF: The former British Open and US Masters champion Sandy Lyle has just two weeks left to safeguard his European Tour future.

Lyle has held a Tour card since he won the qualifying school in 1977, and has claimed the Order of Merit three times and 18 tournaments including the 1985 Open and 1988 Masters.

But the 45-year-old is in severe danger of losing his playing rights for next season after being knocked out of the top 40 of the Tour's career money list last week.

The Scot was 35th on the list at the start of the year and 38th as recently as 10 days ago, but has been bumped down to 41st by Adam Scott, Ignacio Garrido and David Howell.

That is despite the fact that Garrido has won just two tournaments to Lyle's 18 and Howell only one.

And Lyle feels the massive increase in prize money in recent years is to blame.

"The system now is slightly outdated," said Lyle, who has missed the cut in four of his last five events. "It needs to be more of a points system.

"The kind of money I made in the 1980s, winning 18 tournaments . . . and somebody who has not even won a tournament can have three years on tour and win almost as much.

"The money situation has exploded over the last 10 or 15 years. You could see it going up as time went on, but not as much as it has."

A perfect illustration of Lyle's point is that finishing third in the Dunhill Links championship last year earned him more than any of his tournament victories, including his two major titles.

He is just €14,500 behind Howell on the career money list, but with the Englishman in top form with four top 10s in his last five events, Lyle knows he has his work cut out in this week's Dutch Open at Hilversum and the final counting event, the Madrid Open, in a fortnight.

"I knew the last couple of tournaments would be quite vital, but that's just the way it goes," said Lyle, who is currently 142nd on the Order of Merit, around €45,000 outside the top 115 players who retain their card for next year.

"I'll just have to rely on invitations, unless I perform well these next couple of tournaments.

"The game is not too bad, it's just a couple of holes every round making things awkward.

"It's been inconsistency more than anything else, but some of the ball striking and driving off the tees has been very good.

"I can only do my best, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I still want to perform well, but I wouldn't go back to the qualifying school."

Lyle's chances are not helped by the small prize fund on offer this week, the top prize of €166,660 more than €700,000 less than that claimed by the winner of last week's AmEx WGC championship in Atlanta.

Howell, who finished a creditable 28th on only his second competitive appearance in America, is one of five players to have made the journey from the US, with Londoner Brian Davis the highest ranked player in the world, at 73, competing.

The defending champion Tobias Dier of Germany will try to rediscover the touch that earned him a European Tour record-equalling round of 60 in last year's tournament.

Heavy rain has been forecast for the Dutch tournament, which is normally played in the summer but was switched to October this year.

Paul McGinley, 31st on the Order of Merit, is joined by Graeme McDowell, Ronan Rafferty, Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy as the Irish representatives at Hilversum.