There was no Turkish delight for Pádraig Harrington in Antalya yesterday, while an absent Graeme McDowell has lost his second place in the Race to Dubai.

While the world’s media will focus almost exclusively over the next few days on Rory McIlroy and his attempts to explain his walk out during the Honda Classic, this week’s WGC Cadillac World Championship will also be of considerable significance for Pádraig Harrington.

Pádraig Harrington this week samples the incredible atmosphere surrounding the par-three 16th hole at the TPC Stadium course in Scottsdale, Arizona as he makes his debut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

THE new “Nike Chums” Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods remain the top two players in the world golf rankings in spite of missing the cut in last week’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

Pádraig Harrington has a meeting on an Abu Dhabi practice range first thing today despite a superb start to his new season in finishing fourth in the Volvo Champions event in Durban.

Shane Lowry intends drawing on management stablemate Rory McIlroy’s enormous popularity to compete more in the States should he break into the world’s top 50.

Holywood golfer’s assertion last September that he felt more British than Irish was met with a consternation that bordered on the ridiculous.

Former paratrooper Thongchai Jaidee jumped into a three-stroke lead over Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen when the Volvo Champions began at a wet and windy Durban Country Club today.

Pádraig Harrington has expressed “massive sympathy” for Rory McIlroy as the row over the world number one’s plans for the 2016 Olympic Games rumbles on.

Pádraig Harrington may be languishing 59th in the world rankings right now but he begins his 2013 campaign in the €2m Volvo Champions event at Durban Country Club, South Africa with confidence.

Darren Clarke ended his season on a high with his best-placed finish in nearly 18 months after climaxing the Australian PGA Championship in a nine-way share of eighth place.

Damien McGrane let slip the chance to shine in the dull conditions on the second day of the Volvo China Open.

TIGER WOODS, along with the top four players in the world rankings, will contest this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

HE has turned 40, fallen to 89th in the world rankings and lost his most benevolent sponsor.

Next year’s European Tour will again include just one event Ireland, two in England, one in Wales and three in Scotland.

Next year’s European Tour has been confirmed with the Irish Open switching from late July to the end of June, but with a venue yet to be announced.

EUROPEAN TOUR chief George O’Grady wasn’t exaggerating when he claimed on Sunday that 2011 has been the greatest year in his organisation’s history.

Paul Casey has won the European Tour Shot of the Month award for January for a 265-yard five-wood to eight feet during his Volvo Champions win in Bahrain.

THE Irish trio at this week’s Accenture World Match Play in Tucson enter the event with contrasting form.

THE new world rankings are remarkable, not so much for the fact that England’s Lee Westwood remains number one for the 14th successive week, but that Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington has fallen all the way back to 32nd.

PAUL CASEY ended a 20-month winless drought while Darren Clarke’s drive for success ended with two ‘duffed’ chip shots during the final round of the Volvo Champions event in Bahrain.

GIVEN the desert wasteland nature of this week’s Bahrain course, the European Tour issued a special rules notice to all Volvo Champions event competitors declaring – “There is no bunkers on this course”.

STUNG at his relegation to third in the world rankings, Tiger Woods emerges from his winter hibernation in this week’s Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.