The end of the American season playoff events, and the Ryder Cup, mark the finish of the serious year for the majority of upper-echelon players in the United States but there are still things of interest happening on both sides of the Atlantic.

Martin Kaymer, the brilliant German won his third big event in succession when he beat a strong field at St Andrews in the Dunhill Cup. With his win, he became the No.4-ranked player in the world behind Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood who, according to the statisticians will become the No.1 by the end of the month. That is reward for some fantastic play in the major championships over the past few years but he is yet to make one of those crucial putts at the right time and that was exactly what Kaymer did on the 72nd green at the PGA Championship.

With the whole of America assuming Mickelson was the one most likely to pass Woods in the rankings, it will come as some surprise that a European has assumed the mantle. It means something but before long Woods will get his swing and his game organized and he will take back his rightful place. Organizing his life may however take a little longer.

In America, Scott Gardiner, from Coolangatta-Tweed Heads, won on the Nationwide Tour in a four-hole, three-way playoff. Gardiner has always looked like a player good enough to play the main tour but each year he would come back to Australia from a Nationwide campaign a few spots away from the 25th man, a place that guarantees a spot in the majority of main tour events the following year.

He has moved up to 23rd spot and with a few events to play that is no guarantee but he only needs a couple of decent cheques to earn his promotion. If Gardiner does win his card to the US Tour, he would be the first player of Aboriginal heritage - he works closely with the National Aboriginal Sports Commission - to compete on golf's biggest stage.

The previous week Steve Bowditch, the most inconsistent player we have ever produced, won in California and he had the good fortune of winning $180,000, a prize double the regular first place cheques on the Nationwide Tour. That cheque moved him to 11th and he earns another chance at the big tour and how he plays is totally determined by which Bowditch turns up to play. He can play flashy and brilliant golf at times and at others he spends months not coming close to making a cut.

At the other end of the consistency spectrum is Robert Allenby. He has barely had a poor run since he turned pro in 1992. His first season in Europe he was hopeless and the caddies quickly named him ‘Guinness' because of how poorly he travelled but late in the season he turned up at the German Open, finished second and wrapped up his following seasons employment and from then on he has played from tee to green as well as almost anyone in the game.

In his final full year in Europe he won three times and he left for America with expectations of becoming a dominant player. In the fifteen subsequent seasons he has won multiple tournaments outside of America but staggeringly for one who hits so well he has won ‘only' four times in America.

He had a chance to add another trophy when he came to the last hole this week at Sea Island in Georgia tied for the lead but his second 18th hole double bogey for the week dropped him to third. For a man with a reputation of hitting good shots and playing good holes under pressure it was an awful finish and the longer the win drought goes the more difficult it is to break the barrier.

Allenby has made three million dollars this year and that is testament to some fine play and you can't make that much and still be a poor putter but, like Westwood, he needs to hole one or two that really matter.

Finally Katherine Hull played an amazing tournament in Alabama and beat Brittany Lincicome by a shot. The Queenslander played an incredible seventy holes without making a bogey but she made one, a six at the par five 17th, right when she didn't need it although a final hole par was all she needed to take the trophy.

Hull was second in the British Open this summer and quietly she has become one of the best players on the Women's Tour. Finally we have a player to take some of the load from Karrie Webb who has been our best player out there for fifteen years.