Isn't it around this time that we start pressing the panic buttons? Or is it just typical that, in this Ryder Cup year, Europe's star should seem to be dimming? Whatever the cause, and despite so many much-heralded "young guns" supposedly ready to come blazing to the rescue, the fact is this: for the first time in the history of the world rankings, no European golfer is in the top-10, writes Philip Reid, Golf correspondent
Yesterday, Padraig Harrington slipped out of the top-10 for the first time in over two years, having first broken into that elite group after winning the Volvo Masters in November 2001, and he had risen as high as sixth after his Dunhill Links success in October 2002.
So Europe is left trailing in the wake of everyone else.
Of course, it wasn't always so. When the official world rankings started 18 years ago, Bernhard Langer was number one, Seve Ballesteros was second and Sandy Lyle third. But the last European to be number one was Nick Faldo in 1994, and, when both Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie dropped out of the top-10 a year ago, it left Harrington as the standard bearer for European golf.
Harrington, who has dropped to 11th, doesn't start his year's work until next week's Malaysian Open - which starts a three-week stint that also takes in the Accenture World Matchplay and the Dubai Desert Classic - while Darren Clarke, now 12th in the rankings, returns to competitive action on the US Tour in this week's Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines in California, where world number one Tiger Woods defends his title.
Ironically, at a time when Woods is closing in on Greg Norman's record haul of 331 weeks as number one, the name on everyone's lips is actually the official number two, Vijay Singh.
The Fijian's win in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was his third in his last nine starts, and he has not failed to finish out of the top-10 in his last 12 tournaments, dating back to the NEC Invitational in Akron last August. He is only two away from the modern-day record set by Jack Nicklaus in 1977.
Singh is unquestionably the hottest player at the moment. Having ended Woods's run as leading money winner on the US Tour last year, Singh has started the new season the way he finished the old. He leads the money list with earnings of $1.9 million from four tournaments, and this latest win, the 16th of his career on the US Tour, enabled him to cross the elusive 10.00 mark on the world rankings and narrowed the gap on Woods to just 3.08 points, the smallest margin since the new eight-sector world rankings system was introduced on September 1st 2001.
Singh has made no secret of his desire to topple Woods's supremacy, but pointed to his position behind the American as evidence that much work remains to be done.
Asked if his current form made him the best player, Singh responded: "My ranking doesn't say that. I'm number two, playing the best that I can. I want to be number one before I finish.
"But it is a hard feat to take Tiger off the top because he's also playing well. If I keep playing like I am now, I have a shot - maybe not this year, but in a year or two."
In this latest win, Singh finished with a 69 for 16-under-par 262, three shots clear of Jeff Maggert. Phil Mickelson finished third, his third top-10 finish in as many starts, which moved him ahead of Harrington in the rankings.
Of Singh's sizzling form, Maggert remarked: "It kind of reminds me of the streak Tiger was on a few years ago when he won the four majors in a row. It was like all he had to do was to show up and he was going to shoot five or six under . . . and that kind of reminds me of how Vijay is playing right now."
Singh's from of late has been in tournaments where Woods has stayed away, but Woods is back for the defence of his title this week. "I'm going to go out and start all over again . . . it doesn't matter who is playing. If I play my game, everything will be cool," said Singh
The $4.5 million tournament in Torrey Pines also marks Clarke's return to the US Tour, where he has slipped to 16th in the money list. Woods, incidentally, is currently ranked 20th.
It is conceivable that a good finish from Clarke this week would enable him to move above Harrington in the world rankings.
Meanwhile, three Irish players are entered for this week's ANZ Championship in New South Wales, where a modified stableford system designed to encourage attacking golf will be used. England's Paul Casey defends his title while Peter Lawrie, Graeme McDowell and Gary Murphy are the Irishmen in the field.
Of course, much of the attention will focus on Laura Davies, who is playing on a sponsor's invitation and becomes the first woman to play in a PGA European Tour event.
EUROPEAN ORDER OF MERIT - Irish positions: 8th, P Harrington €94,205; 40th, D Clarke €27,248; 53rd, G Murphy €17,565; 54th, P Lawrie €16,461; 107th, G McDowell €6,928; 113th, P McGinley €6,481; 127th, M McNulty €4,718; 163rd D McGrane €2,068.
