FOR EVERY Shiv in Golf Masters' land there's a Toru, one player fighting off the affections of our managers, the other standing alone and ignored in the corner, shouting "yoo hoo, what about me?"
Although, to be accurate about it, Toru Taniguchi actually has company in the lonely corner, Cliff Kresge and David Lynn sharing with the Japanese man the title of the 2008 Golf Masters' Most Unloved Player, each one of them hired by the grand total of one manager at registration time.
We've had players in the past who were going to miss the entire season through illness or injury who were hired by more managers than that.
True, at €4.9 million Toru came with a hefty price tag, and missing the cut in Augusta wasn't the best of starts to his Golf Masters' season, but having topped the money list in the 2007 Japan Tour he surely merited more faith than this? Unless, of course, you feared he would rest up back in Japan and miss out on most of the Golf Masters' tour?
But not even bargain prices of €600,000 were enough to attract you to Lynn and Kresge, both men callously overlooked by all but one of you when you sat down to choose your teams. We will watch their progress - or lack of it - with interest.
Another €600,000 man, India's Shiv Kapur, will, though, be a busy chap this Golf Masters' season, representing 3,354 teams, marginally more than David Howell, Rory McIlroy and Andrew Coltart, the only other players to be included in 3,000 teams or more.
Not even a value of €7 million could put almost a quarter of our entrants off Tiger Woods, 2,960 of you guided by the principle that you get what you pay for, while Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington joined McIlroy as the Irish players in our top 10 most popular players.
The Most Popular
1 Shiv Kapur 3,354
2 David Howell 3,031
3 Rory McIlroy 3,016
4 Andrew Coltart 3,002
5 Tiger Woods 2,960
6 Graeme McDowell 2,689
7 Darren Clarke 2,425
8 Graeme Storm 2,149
9 Michael Campbell 1,930
10 Padraig Harrington 1,870
The Least Popular
1 Toru Taniguchi 1
1 Cliff Kresge 1
1 David Lynn 1
4 Richard Johnson (Wales) 12
5 Richard Green 15
6 Richard Sterne 23
7 Shingo Katayama 26
8 James Kingston 28
9 Ian Poulter 29
9 Stephen Ames 29
