Faldo in rankings battle in Dubai

Whether Nick Faldo remains part of golf's elite will be decided this week when he plays in the Dubai Desert Classic.

Faldo goes into the £850,000 tournament lying 65th in the world rankings and with his hopes of appearing in the £3million world match play championship in California at the end of this month balanced on a knife edge.

Only the leading 64 qualify on Sunday night, and Faldo - world number one for an incredible 81 weeks until Greg Norman took the spot five years ago - can probably be safe only if he finishes in the top 15 at the Dubai Creek course.

Among those threatening him are Swedes Robert Karlsson and Per-Ulrik Johansson, currently 66th and 67th respectively, and also Andrew Coltart, whose fourth place finish in the Malaysian Open yesterday moved him up from 75th to 70th. The Scot may need to repeat that to knock out Faldo.

Faldo could yet be saved by Japan's Jumbo Ozaki, who although occupying 14th place in the table is now 52 years old and is thought unlikely to take up his place at La Costa near San Diego.

The match play event is the first of the three World Championships introduced this season, each of them offering a £625,000 first prize and counting towards both the European and American Order of Merit and Ryder Cup tables.

There is an automatic draw, which means that even if Faldo takes the last place he will go straight into a duel with world number one Tiger Woods.

As things stand, Lee Westwood would face Craig Stadler; Colin Montgomerie would tackle Rocco Mediate, winner of the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, and it would be Darren Clarke v Stewart Cink and Ian Woosnam v Open runner-up Brian Watts.

To miss out would be a big blow not just to Faldo's hopes of winning a record 12th Ryder Cup cap but also his pride.

While he and partner David Carter notched England's first-ever victory in the World Cup in November, the 41-year-old former Open and Masters champion has not won a title on his own for almost two years now.

Only last week South African Gary Player slammed into him with a stinging attack, saying Faldo "can't play at all now" and might never win again.

Last autumn Faldo separated from long-time coach David Leadbetter, teaming up instead with Chip Koehlke, head professional at his own academy in Florida.

The World Cup performance - he was second in the individual section - was followed by a fourth-place finish in the Australian Open. But so far this year he has missed the halfway cut in the South African PGA championship and come only 43rd in the South African Open.

The Desert Classic has a far stronger field than either of those. Montgomerie, Europe's number one for the past six seasons, makes his first appearance of the year, and current Masters and Open champion Mark O'Meara has flown from San Francisco to the Middle East.

Westwood and Clarke will be looking to hit back from the disappointment of missing the cut in Malaysia and Woosnam from making an early exit in the Heineken Classic in Perth two weeks ago.