Fri Apr 11 19:32:53 2008

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Europe's spotty recent history in major championships

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Augusta, GA (Sports Network) - It's called the Harry Vardon Trophy, and it's awarded every year to the European Tour Order of Merit champion as the leading money winner for that season.

Last year, England's Justin Rose ended on top for the first time.

That Rose fell out of the lead at the Masters on Friday should come as no surprise to anyone who knows the history of Order of Merit champions playing at Augusta the year after winning the trophy.

None of them since Ian Woosnam in 1991 has been able to win the following year's Masters, and only two others have come very close.

Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, two non-Europeans, both finished runner-up at Augusta the year after winning the first of their back-to-back Order of Merit titles.

Last year, 2006 Order of Merit champion Padraig Harrington tied for seventh.

And it was Harrington, after winning the British Open last summer to end Europe's eight-year drought in major championships, who pronounced that the Europeans were "in a better place now than we were going into the Open having a chance to win major championships."

"If the floodgates open up over the next couple of years, I'm going to take the credit for it," the Irishman said, hinting at a possible run by the Europeans in majors.

Woosnam, now a 50-year-old Augusta staple, validated that opinion Friday after shooting a 71 to guarantee he made the Masters cut for the 13th time in 21 appearances.

"Everybody knows that now they could just follow [Harrington] in his foot steps," the Welshman declared.

But how likely is it that any European player -- not just the reigning Order of Merit champion Rose -- will slip into the green jacket on Sunday evening as the continent's first Masters champion since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999?

Ian Poulter, the eclectically stylish Englishman, was Europe's best hope at five-under 139 -- three shots off the lead held by South African Trevor Immelman.

Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, also from England, were four and six shots off the lead, respectively. (Eight shots was the largest 36-hole deficit ever overcome to win the Masters, done by American Jack Burke, Jr. in 1956.)

And Rose? After holding at least a piece of the first-round Masters lead for the third time in five years, he fell off precipitously on Friday, to the point where he needed to worry about making the cut.

Harrington, too, scrambled to make the weekend.

Rose, after moving into a share of the first-round lead on Thursday, said that the European Tour is "not quite as recognized over here" compared, of course, to the PGA Tour.

Which is a valid point.

But if you looked closely enough Friday evening, Harrington's footsteps were just barely visible in the grass at Augusta National.