FirstRound/On TV: BBC 2 (1.30-6.0):  Who's not here, as much as who is, has been the topic of much conversation around this stockbroker belt outside London, where the European Tour's flagship event - the Volvo PGA Championship, with a slush fund of €3.5 million - will seek to regain a semblance of order after the West Course's vagaries of the past couple of years spewed up surprise winners, a notion quite at odds with the belief that only someone familiar with the nuances of this tree-lined course can emerge as champion.

For one, Annika Sorenstam - crusader or bearded lady, depending on who you listen to - has taken up a goodly amount of talk time. And, for another, Padraig Harrington, Europe's number one player, who has decided to bypass the event in favour of a week's break before building up to next month's US Open by playing Stateside, has had his name bandied about in meetings and around the dinner table.

One thing is certain, though: neither can win this title. But there are 156 players in the field who can.

Colin Montgomerie has been the most vocal critic of Harrington's decision to miss the championship, and he wasn't relenting yesterday. When asked if he could understand Harrington's decision, his reply was brutally simple. "No," he said, before adding: "I can't understand Padraig anyway . . . that's for him to decide, but I don't understand it."

Then it was put to Montgomerie that one of Harrington's reasons for missing the event - where he has never had a top-10 finish - was because the greens were different due to overseeding at this time of year than when the world matchplay is played here in October.

"Yes, he does say that. (But) I don't understand that either. So I don't understand that," insisted Montgomerie.

When I put it to him that Harrington was looking ahead to the bigger picture of the US Open, and his quest to win a major, by playing the two weeks before in America, Montgomerie replied: "That's his decision. I can't say where or where not to play . . . but I would hope that he would see this tournament as a bigger picture, as a big picture in the future. Not having won here, you know. I would think he would have wanted to have tried to win this tournament and it is a shame that he is not here."

Ernie Els was more sympathetic - and more diplomatic - about Harrington's reasoning. "The matchplay is after the summer and the greens have dried out. There are only a few matches a day and you're putting on perfect greens . . . normally, the greens are a little bit rougher at this time of the year," said Els.

Harrington may not be playing, but the Irish challenge is numerically strong with eight players in the field: Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley, Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton - in because PGA Seniors champion Seiji Ebihara did not take up a place in the field - John Dwyer, the professional at Ashbourne, and Brendan McGovern, the professional at Headfort.

Of them, Clarke, 13th in the Order of Merit, and 23rd in the world rankings, is most likely to threaten a field that includes world number two Els, who is making a competitive return after being sidelined with a wrist injury, and world number nine Retief Goosen.

Certainly, the course will hold no surprises for Clarke, who has had top-10 finishes on each of the past three years and whose best finish was second in 1997, behind Ian Woosnam, and who remarked, "The course is playing fantastic, the best I can remember it."

He added: "There is something special about playing here - it is real golf. You need all the shots in the bag. You have to shape your shots around this course, and that is something I enjoy. It's taxing mentally, and keeps you on your toes."

Clarke, in fact, is looking for a big week: "I've been hitting the ball really well this year, but just haven't converted my long game into a victory. I seem to have been saying that since the start of the year, but I honestly think it is just a case of holing the putts and the rest will follow.

"I hope it is this week, because the Volvo PGA is a title that is very high on my list of priorities. It is right up there, just below the majors and the world golf championships."

Life, as ever, goes on, with or without the current leader of the Volvo Order of Merit and, whatever Monty's views on his absent Ryder Cup partner, the Scot - despite a poor start to the season where he missed the cut in five of six strokeplay tournaments he played on the US Tour - represents an unrelenting force on this course. He has won the title three times and finished second three times.

"I'm still the man to beat," he claimed bluntly. "I don't have to prove myself here. I would just like to win for the sake of winning. I'm not trying to be big-headed or boastful, I'm just trying to say that I'm confident of doing well."

And it does help to know the course, even if Anders Hansen's surprise win last year, in a record low score of 19-under-par for 72 holes, and Andy Oldcorn's triumph the previous year indicate a shift in such a philosophy.

"It's a good thinking course," insisted Nick Faldo. "You have to think on every shot. It keeps you on your toes and you are rewarded for good thinking and good shot-making.".

In such circumstances, and if the wind does blow, then Clarke shouldn't be overlooked. Traditionally, he plays well on courses he likes, and all he needs is for some putts to drop. If they do, then Clarke will be able to tick off another event on his "must win" list. And people might even forget Harrington wasn't there.