North-East golf fans can look forward to watching rejuvenated Seve Trophy captains Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal in September after both produced their stunning best at The Open at St Andrews.

And the possiblity remains of Ashington's Kenneth Ferrie and Hartlepool's Graeme Storm making an appearance at The Wynyard Club after their turnaround in fortunes in recent weeks.

Monty was Tiger Woods' nearest challenger at the Old Course, finishing runner-up and five strokes behind, while Olazabal produced his best Open performance in 13 years to tie for third with Fred Couples.

Monty will lead the Seve Trophy Great Britain and Ireland side at Wynyard from September 22-25, while Olazabal captains a Continental Europe team.

The event will be hosted by Spanish golfing legend Seve Ballesteros, who formally handed over the captaincy of the Continental Europe side to his friend before last week's Open.

The heroics of Monty and Olazabal at St Andrews hoisted the Scot to world number 22 and the Spaniard to 40th.

And Monty has secured his berth in the 2005 HSBC World Match Play Championship later this year and the chance to play for £1m.

The cream rose to the top at the Open, including many of those players in the reckoning for Seve Trophy places.

Spain's Sergio Garcia finished tied for fifth with Bernhard Langer, whose strong Open showing pushes him into the fray for a Seve Trophy place.

Ian Poulter posted a final round 69 to finish 11th and boost his chances of making the team and, despite missing the cut at St Andrews, Ferrie still occupies a qualifying spot for the Great Britain and Ireland side via the European Tour Order of Merit, thanks largely to his fantastic Smurfit European Open triumph earlier this month.

Olazabal leads many Seve Trophy hopefuls at this week's Deutsche Bank Players' Championship of Europe in Germany.

Home favourite Langer is another teeing off at Gut Kaden Golf und Land Club with Ireland's Padraig Harrington set to return after missing the Open due to the death of his father.

The Irishman will be joined by his 2004 Ryder Cup team-mate and Seve Trophy hopeful David Howell, returning to top level action after withdrawing from the US Open earlier in the season due to a rib injury.

l Tickets for the Seve Trophy are available at www.sevetrophy2005.com or www.ticketmaster.co.uk and also on 0870 602 1121.

CURRENT TEAMS

Great Britain and Ireland

Captain

Colin Montgomerie

World Ranking Qualification

Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Darren Clarke, David Howell

European Tour Order of Merit Qualification

Stephen Dodd, Paul McGinley, Ian Poulter, Kenneth Ferrie

Final player wild card selection

Continental Europe

Captain

Jose Maria Olazabal

World Ranking Qualification

Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Bjorn, Bernhard Langer

European Tour Order of Merit

Peter Hanson, Martin Lafeber, Jean-Francois Remesy, Soren Hansen

Final player wild card selection