I’m not hitting it any longer but I’m not any shorter, either.”He is still some way from passing for a jockey but perhaps he has an eye on a special prize at Woburn. Any player who makes an albatross at the par-five 18th this week will win a year’s ownership of a racehorse, and he will be able to name the chestnut filly, trained at Wetherby by Robin Bastiman, prior to her running as a three-year-old on the flat next season. The £35,000 prize went unclaimed last year, although the tournament winner, Bob May, received compensation for making an albatross on the long 10th by being given ownership for a day.Bastiman said: “The filly is half-sister to Maronito, whom I also train and who won first time out last year, so there is a good family history.”Montgomerie, meanwhile, has been third and second in his last two outings on the Duke’s Course but this will be his last opportunity to savour the tightly tree-lined layout before the event moves to the newly opened Marquess Course. It has had rave reviews and the European Tour were keen to switch this time but the club was adamant it needed to mature for another year.There are 12 players in the field who will be flying off to Louisville on Monday but the sponsors have been slightly unfortunate to be moved into the slot before an American major in the second year of their contract.Although Montgomerie, who was third at Loch Lomond prior to the Open, is happy to play his way into a major, both Lee Westwood, last week’s winner in Sweden and leader of the order of merit, and Darren Clarke are flying out early to the States.Another sponsor, Standard Life, has decided not to renew its contract after three years at Loch Lomond. The club hopes to retain the date ahead of the Open although Celtic Manor is also keen on the same week.The incentive this week for Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer is to play their way into the £3m NEC event at Firestone, the top 12 from the money list qualifying on Sunday night.

Woosnam is 13th, just behind Mathias Gronberg, but Langer has ground to make up from 18th place.Woosnam will remain as Sam Torrance’s sole official Ryder Cup vice-captain after the resignation last week of Mark James as his other assistant following the publication of his book and the subsequent row with Nick Faldo. “There certainly isn’t going to be a replacement for Mark,” Torrance said “There will be plenty of people around to help out. It should never have happened but I am just glad it is all resolved. I was only on the practice range briefly but 15 people must have come up and said they were sorry what happened to Mark.”Montgomerie added: “I felt for Sam that he should end up in the middle of it all and I’m glad for his sake it has been resolved. The qualifying starts next month and it is important there is some stability before then But Mark was an excellent captain and I’m sorry for him.”. The top employees of England’s most prominent football clubs will be earning bonuses of up to £3.4 million a season from 2002 it emerged yesterday, although the sportsmen concerned will not be footballers and the earnings will be linked more to the pits than the pitch.

The top employees of England’s most prominent football clubs will be earning bonuses of up to £3.4 million a season from 2002 it emerged yesterday, although the sportsmen concerned will not be footballers and the earnings will be linked more to the pits than the pitch.
The bonuses, which will come on top of basic salary packages, is the amount that leading motor-racing drivers will earn in the Premier 1 Grand Prix series, football’s answer to Formula One. The new competition will involve 26 cars bearing the logos and colours of Europe’s biggest teams competing on the great circuits of the world.The clubs, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, have been asked to license the use of their names for the venture. They will be under no obligation to finance the running of the cars but are likely to profit, through advertising and sponsorship, from their association with the project.The series has been designed not only to attract football supporters but also motor-racing fans who are seeking a sport that is a pure test of driving skill. All the cars will be made by Dallara, the well-respected Italian constructor, so the emphasis will move away from mechanical superiority. Unlike in Formula One, refuelling will be prohibited during races.”When we get the licences from the clubs we’re off the ground and running,” said Graham Kelly, the former chiefexecutive of the Football Association who is now a director of Premier 1.