Emerging Parnevik wild card at heart

Andy Farrell says two players chasing Ryder Cup places face differing tests in Florida

The performances of two players are worth noting at this week's Players' Championship. They are both American Tour players, at present lying third and fifth on their money list, but only one is sure to figure in next September's Ryder Cup match.

Tiger Woods, obviously, will. He has won $418,050 on the US Tour this year, little more than seven months into a professional career that has already clocked up four wins. The timing of his switch to the paid ranks was a masterstroke. Not only did winning a third successive US Amateur Championship last August raise the ante on his endorsement deals, but by waiting until then he had missed all the biggest events of the year.

This is not to say that Woods has not already beaten some handy performers - most notably the Open champion Tom Lehman in a waterlogged sudden-death play-off at the Mercedes Championships - but he had been able to play himself in before facing the stiffest tests as a professional. That starts here, at the TPC at Sawgrass, a course with a reputation for meanness on which Fred Couples beat Colin Montgomerie and Tommy Tolles into second place last year. While claims by promoters that the Players' is the fifth major are manifest nonsense, the quality of the field ranks alongside the four biggies. At least 46 of the world's top 50 are expected to tee up in Jacksonville, a figure on a par with the Masters in three weeks' time.

If it is stand and deliver time for Woods, Jesper Parnevik has a point to prove. The Swede with the dated outfits and the upturned peak has won $52,220 more than Woods in America this year and if you included him in the US Ryder Cup rankings, he would be inside the top 10. Yet in order to play for Europe at Valderrama he will need to receive a wild card, and they are all precious to Seve Ballesteros, the captain.

Make no mistake, should Nick Faldo, who also plays primarily in America, and Jose Maria Olazabal be fit and well and have not qualified by the end of the BMW International in August, they will be Seve's picks. Bernhard Langer, whose return to form will hopefully see him qualify, and Sandy Lyle, whose golf shows signs of emerging from a coma in America, may also be in the running for an invitation from the captain.

A ballot of European Tour players may give Ballesteros an extra pick, but what is hard on Parnevik is that he, not being a member of the European Tour, cannot earn Ryder Cup points: he should have picked up 108,330 points for winning last September's Lancome Trophy. That was the second time in a year he had beaten Colin Montgomerie into second place by five shots and the Scot, in his endearing way of repeating things when he feels something strongly, said: "We cannot, cannot, CANNOT, go to Valderrama without Jesper Parnevik."

According to the world rankings, Parnevik is the fourth-best European player behind Montgomerie, Faldo and Langer. Though he would love to play in the Ryder Cup, Parnevik went to America, where he finished 53rd on the money list last year, to become a better player. It is hard to disagree that by achieving this it should improve his chances of representing Europe. He has had five top-five finishes this year, including last week's Honda Classic. The only reason he might not want to record his maiden US win this week is that the Players' champion has never doubled up at the US Masters.