Once when Colin Montgomerie reigned supreme as he astonishingly reeled off seven titles in succession between 1993 and '99, Europe's money list was a big deal for the leading players on this side of the Atlantic. Until Nick Faldo, who had won a couple himself, lobbed a rock into Montgomerie's pond.

Asked why the Scot had never attempted a complete season on the PGA Tour, Faldo responded: "I'm surprised he hasn't thought of doing something different as a challenge.

But hell, I think he likes to earn his fat cheques each week, if you're motivated by that. A few are. Most of us go for 10 Claret Jugs."

While Montgomerie might have been in a comfort zone, and while then and now, he still hasn't won a tournament in America, this was a typical Faldo put-down. However, his remarks presaged the developments which would take place as more European players spent more and more time on the lucrative US tour.

If the Order of Merit was, and is, worth winning, it was seen increasingly as a stepping stone by the likes of Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Even before the advent this year of the FedEx Cup playoffs which sucked in the great and good of the world game from around the world, no one with major championships and WGC titles on their mind was going to put the Order of Merit title on a pedestal. Els might still emerge from the Volvo Masters, which gets under way on Thursday, with a third title, but he won't be at Valderrama to collect the Harry Vardon Trophy because the tournament is no longer on his schedule.

Instead of travelling to Spain to protect his lead of 200,000 and loose change over his nearest challengers, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose, Els unashamedly admitted that he was "getting the wheelbarrow out" to fulfil a presumably worthwhile contract to play in the Singapore Open. Last year when he clinched his first title, Harrington insisted that the Order of Merit was a "huge deal", and as one of the many career boxes that he felt needed ticking, no one doubted that he meant it. But this season, on the back of his historic Open Championship victory, he chose not to play in Mallorca this week where, with a first prize of 333,000 on the table, he could have overtaken Els, and instead accepted an invitation to the Hassan 11 Trophy in Morocco.

Given that Rose had also decided to skip the Mallorca Open, and that there is a mere 657 between the pair in second and third place in the Order of Merit table, it is almost certain to be a twohorse race next week unless Niclas Fasth wins today in Mallorca and then finishes no worse than second at Valderrama.

Somewhat miffed to have been overlooked for the 2006 European Tour Golfer of the Year award which went to Paul Casey, Harrington has surely already clinched this season's gong by virtue of his triumph at Carnoustie, however, he will be keen to assert himself as Europe's top player once more with a second Order of Merit title. This time last year, Harrington edged past Casey in the earnings list when Sergio Garcia bogeyed Valderrama's finishing hole to give him the share of second place he required.

Eerily, another bogey by Garcia at Carnoustie in July would give Harrington an altogether more crucial reprieve, and ultimately, the opportunity to join the ranks of major champions. At Valderrama, he needs to finish fourth or better on his own, and obviously ahead of Rose, in order to overhaul Els and retain the title. As long as there's no repeat of the neck injury that affected him temporarily in Morocco, that should be well within Harrington's compass.

As for Rose, an Order of Merit success would cap what has been an impressive season for the 27-year-old who is on course to make his Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla next year. Admirably consistent in all four major championships . . . a tie for 12th was his worst finish . . . he missed an opportunity to open some daylight between himself and Harrington when he only earned 30,000 at last week's Portugal Masters.

Hopefully, a head-to-head will materialise, and hopefully, Els won't further devalue the Order of Merit title by winning it in absentia.