Dubai, Wednesday

ALTHOUGH the PGA European Tour officially opened in Madeira a

fortnight ago, the event there was a comparative skirmish set against

the Dubai Desert Classic, which begins tomorrow over the magnificent

Emirates course, a genuine oasis conjured ingeniously and expensively

from the desert floor.

The prize money has been increased by #50,000 to #400,000, and as if

to underline the good fortune tournament professionals enjoy when so

many have had considerably less luck recently, six other tournaments

have also declared substantial increases -- the Moroccan, French,

German, Italian, Madrid, and Spanish Opens.

The strength of the field is principally reflected in the presence of

Nick Faldo, currently the world's leading player, and the holder,

Severiano Ballesteros, who used to occupy a position that is as perilous

as it is illustrious. Sandy Lyle, Bernard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Jose

Maria Olazabal, meanwhile, continue to delay their first entry into the

1993 lists.

The parallel contest for places in Europe's Ryder Cup side to face the

United States in September will increasingly overshadow the primary

objective of earning money. For the time being, the diverging career

graphs of Faldo and Ballesteros are of more immediate interest.

Ballesteros's victory here last year was his fiftieth in Europe, and

although he won again four weeks later, those successes were not the

appetisers to more substantial dishes. He finished twenty-eighth on the

order of merit and, at 35, it seemed as if the strain and drain of

winning almost 90 times in 20 years world-wide had inefected his central

competitive system.

The level of concentration and confidence which enabled Ballesteros to

produce four birdies in the last six holes to tie with Ronan Rafferty

and then beat him with another at the second extra hole steadily

deserted him. Ballesteros's golf this week may give at least a

preliminary clue over his potential for improvement.

The self-doubt which pervades Ballesteros's game has no place in

Faldo's, although he expects to hit no more than half a dozen perfect

shots in a round. In this he echoes the view expressed years ago by Ben

Hogan, who brought a similarly intense, single-minded and disciplined

approach to the game.

Such short rations help put in perspective the difficulty of this game

for the average golfer, who can hardly imagine hitting 150 practice

balls a day as Faldo does, let alone the 1500 he used to do. Obviously,

he hopes his game will fall into place as consistently as it did last

year, when he had six victories.

''You find weaknesses, recognise them, and deal with them,'' said

Faldo, adding that although stronger competition made winning nowadays

more difficult, his experience at the highest level gave him the

advantage over most.

Faldo's first choice of victory this year would be the US Open, which

he has twice almost won, but another success in the Ryder Cup would

fully make up for him any failure to win his sixth major championship.

Winning anything at all after having drawn a blank last season is the

priority for Colin Montgomerie and Sam Torrance, two of the nine Scots

competing.

Montgomerie is playing six of the next seven tournaments as an opening

salvo in his attempt to retain his Ryder Cup place. Torrance, after five

years with one club manufacturer, has changed allegiance to another with

''the best contract I've ever had.''

Paul Lawrie and Adam Hunter represent the extensive Aberdeen stable at

Kings Links, from where they are joined by England's Craig Cassells. It

will be interesting to see how Anders Forsbrand and Robert Karlsson

resume their campaign to become Sweden's first Ryder Cup

representatives, and whether Jim Payne advances from his position as the

1992 Rookie of the Year.