Ballesteros in Madrid Hospital After Fainting

Seve Ballesteros, the five-time major winner who retired last year, was in a stable condition in a Madrid hospital last night after briefly losing consciousness. "His condition is stable," La Paz University Hospital said, adding that the 51-year-old was undergoing tests. No further details were provided at the request of his family.

In July 2007 Ballesteros's nephew and manager Ivan said that his uncle had been found to have an irregular heartbeat but that it was nothing too serious, and issued a statement to reassure "friends and admirers" that he was doing "perfectly well".

Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington, meanwhile, have thrown their weight behind the inaugural Race to Dubai. The European Tour's top 60 qualify for next year's tournament, which replaces the Order of Merit and ends with the US$10m (£5.6m) World Championship at Jumeirah Estates from November 19-22.

Players must be members of the European Tour and that now entails playing 12 rather than 11 events, two of which must be in Europe. "I will be seeking to get to Dubai and make it a great finish to the season," Garcia said.

Harrington, overtaken in this year's Order of Merit by Robert Karlsson's Dunhill Links victory on Sunday, added: "I would like to give myself a good chance of winning, especially in the first year."