Harrington warms up for Adare at Sawgrass

Golf

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

By Peter Hutcheon

Ireland's recent domination of the European Tour will come to an end with everyone taking a breather ahead of next week's Irish Open at Adare Manor.

The only Irishman playing competitively this week is Padraig Harrington who is building up to his defence of that title in America at the Players Championship at Sawgrass which starts tomorrow.

Twice he has finished runner-up at the event the professionals dub the fifth Major.

It's Harrington's first tournament since he finished in a tie for fifth at last month's Masters which does not auger all that well for his chances as he takes time to warm up after a break from the game.

But with Tiger Woods still out recovering from knee surgery, every man in the field will feel they have a great chance of taking one of the year's great prizes.

Favourite is world number two Phil Mickelson.

Sawgrass's main attraction is the island green on the 17th which can yield birdies and bogies in equal measure.

Harrington will naturally take the defence of his Irish Open title seriously when he arrives home next week and with the decades-long wait for an Irish winner at an end, suddenly they are queuing up.

Dubliner Peter Lawrie's win in Spain at the weekend completed a hat-trick of wins following on from Darren Clarke and Damian McGrane's victories in China in the previous weeks.

Add in Graeme McDowell's success in Korea in March for a quite incredible run of success.

This week's Italian Open is bereft of Irish interest with all of them hoping to keep their powder dry for Adare.

To win there would mean the world to Darren Clarke, who should have already had an Irish Open title to his name two years ago only to blow it as the tournament entered a fifth day to good friend Thomas Bjorn.

Clarke still feels at something of a loose end when the big US events such as the Masters and the TPC take place without him, but having the week off will probably benefit him next week.

"I'll be at home watching it avidly," says Clarke, "but it's not the same as being there.

"As players we consider it the fifth Major and it's a tournament you really want to feature in because it's a demanding course which can punish you.

"But the aim for me is to make sure that I am there next year."

McDowell and Rory McIlroy will be joining Clarke in Limerick next week with McDowell still riding high in the Ryder Cup qualifying positions.

But this season has not quite worked out according to plan so far for Rory McIlroy. He won 277,255 euros in just four events last year to finish 95th on the European Order of Merit in 95th place. So far this year he has won just 81,792 euros from 11 starts which places him in 109th.