CURRENT events cast their shadows over future engagements sometimes in

the least likely ways. The Ryder Cup match at The Belfry is more than

four months distant, but before this week is over candidates for the

European team to meet the United States will have physically been

measured for the conflict.

The tape measure will be applied to as many as 35 leading

professionals, although the reality is that each side consists of only

12 players. However, PGA officials at Wentworth are not about to

perpetrate the same sin of omission as was made two years ago before the

match at Kiawah Island.

At this same time, on the eve of the Volvo PGA Championship, the 30

players then leading the points table by which nine of the dozen places

are automatically taken had their sizes established for the suits,

blazers and trousers which make up the team uniforms as well as their

on-course wear.

However, Colin Montgomerie and David Gilford were not in the first 30

on the points list 24 months ago and so were not among the players

judged to be realistic candidates.

In the event, both Montgomerie and Gilford qualified for the 1991 side

and had to undergo a late taping and chalking meeting that was too near

to being posthumous to be comfortable for those involved.

The course for the 1995 match has already been settled at Oak Hill, in

Rochester, New York, but the site of the 1997 match has not been decided

-- and may contradict expectations.

Certainly, the match will be held in Spain, but not necessarily, as

some expected, at Valderrama. A location somewhere in the Madrid area

has now gained strength as more probable.

The all-round advantages of holding it near the capital city instead

of on the Mediterranean coast, not to mention Severiano Ballesteros's

influence, surely give Madrid the advantage.