IT WASN’T long after we began studying the line-ups of our leading contenders, going in to the final week of the competition, that we abandoned our permutating. Stephen Hawking, we reckoned, would even have trouble with this one, not least because of the “transfers left” factor – or, indeed, the possibility of late withdrawals from the European Masters.
Frank Brennan, our leader, is the only top-10 manager to have used up all his transfers, so the remaining nine will probably have made changes before last night’s deadline. Jennifer Belton’s Jenster 2, in eighth, and Fionnuala Murnaghan’s 10th-placed team could even start the tournament with all seven of their players in the field.
Frank’s hopes of holding off the chasing pack rest on two Englishmen and a French man, Graeme Storm, Simon Khan and Jean-Francois Lucquin, the defending champion.
He’ll be keeping a wary eye on Raphael Jacquelin, Danny Willett, Michael Hoey and Chris Wood plus AN Other, who make up Fionnuala’s Artful Dodgers, while hoping that David Drysdale, one of Wes Byrne’s players, maintains his form from the Johnnie Walker Championship – he missed the cut.
Here, then, are the players our top 10 managers have in action in Switzerland – bearing in mind those transfers still to be made.
1 Frank Brennan– Lucan 2 (no transfers left): Graeme Storm, Simon Khan and Jean-Francois Lucquin.
2 Fionnuala Murnaghan– Artful Dodgers (one transfer left): Raphael Jacquelin, Danny Willett, Michael Hoey, Chris Wood. €26,530 behind leader.
3 Wes Byrne— Tom's Tigers (one transfer left): Graeme Storm, David Drysdale, Chris Wood. €39,177 behind leader.
4 Kevin Vaughan– Hoozegood (one transfer left): Raphael Jacquelin, Marcus Fraser, Michael Hoey. €67,324 behind leader.
5 Maureen Sheehan– Crannagh (two transfers left): Raphael Jacquelin, Marcel Siem, Michael Hoey. €71,605 behind leader.
6 James Walsh– Tractors 7 (two transfers left): Niclas Fasth. €89,316 behind leader.
7 Amanda Smith— Fabio Aurelio (one transfer left): Michael Hoey, Niclas Fasth, Raphael Jacquelin, Danny Willett. €102,253 behind leader.
8 Jennifer Belton– Jenster 2 (two transfers left): Michael Hoey, Raphael Jacquelin, Robert Rock, Graeme Storm, Chris Wood. €113,820 behind leader.
9 Fionnuala Murnaghan– Tiger Economy (two transfers left): Michael Hoey, Raphael Jacquelin, Danny Willett, Bradley Dredge. €135,301 behind leader.
10 Fionnuala Murnaghan– The Avengers (four transfers left): Michael Hoey, Raphael Jacquelin, Graeme Storm, Chris Wood. €148,971 behind leader.
