CHARLIE MULQUEEN: Harrington must grasp Doral opportunity to re-ignite season

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.

Having scraped into the €6.5m event as the 50th-ranked player in the world, Harrington is guaranteed four rounds but knows further poor performances will see him plunge back down the rankings and miss out on the tournaments carrying the points that will prove crucial later in his battle for a place on the 2014 Ryder Cup team.

Harrington played no small part in ensuring his friend Paul McGinley was appointed captain of the European side and made little secret of his ambition to be at the coalface at Gleneagles. To do that, he must establish himself in the world top 50 and this week, over the Blue Monster course at Donald Trump’s Doral, would be a good place to start.