Harrington hoping for rub of the greens

THE BMW PGA Championship beginning at Wentworth on Thursday brings to an end three massive weeks on the European Tour.

The new look event is being sponsored by the car company to the tune of €4 million with €670,000 for the winner and sees Pádraig Harrington return to the Tour’s flagship tournament after a two year absence.

The Irishman has consistently insisted that he didn’t like the Burma Road greens at this time of year because of the meadowgrass and that was the chief reason he stayed away.

He travelled to Wentworth yesterday to join his Ryder Cup teammates for a dinner to honour their captain Bernhard Langer, on the back of a respectable fifth place finish in the Nissan Irish Open over the weekend.

He believes it could have been even better had his putter not turned cold when he needed it most and if he can cope a little better over the Wentworth greens he purports to dislike so much, then it could be a more productive four days than he anticipates.

“I can’t believe I was only three behind the play-off”, he mused about the Irish Open. “I missed far too many putts. But I was in contention and that’s what I want. The greens at Wentworth could be awkward but we’ll see. I had no problem with the neck injury at the weekend and I’m very positive about that.

“On Saturday, I drove it better than I’ve ever done so some parts of my game are very strong. I look back and think, I’m only three shots away. Some weeks you play like this and you’re 15 shots away. That’s why I tend not to go to Wentworth ... one year I played quite well there for four over and 19 under won.”

The Carton course came in for some very sharp criticism early last week before it relented as the days went by. Harrington claims he and his fellow pros will be happy to return in 12 months time while adding: “They could definitely make the course better, one or two things could improve it hugely. While it’s a good design, the weather is never going to be favourable, it’s exposed to the wind and so you’ve got to have wider driving areas. As for atmosphere, the crowds were there for me but it was very quiet around the course.

“There wasn’t any loud cheering which is unusual for an Irish Open. You’d be coming down the 18th at Portmarnock and giving out about the jazz music from the tented village.

“Things like that have to develop at a tournament. This was the first year at Carton, they can work at it and get it better. I like the tournament being moved around. I don’t want to see it played at the same venue. The players want to come and experience different courses in Ireland. This tournament is very strong with the core of European Tour players.

“It’s hard to attract the very top players because they’re always worried about their schedule but the actual core players always come here and see it as one of the top events. I’m sure you could find a better date and a lot of worse ones. A summer date is always better but sometimes we don’t always have that choice.”

Harrington has dropped from 6th to 10th in the world rankings in the space of six weeks having been overtaken by Kenny Perry, winner of the Colonial tournament on the US Tour at the weekend so it would be timely for him to produce a big finish at Wentworth.

It won’t be easy, too, with course specialist Ernie Els in a powerful field along with the likes of US Open champion and fellow South African Retief Goosen; recent British Masters champion Thomas Bjorn and all but Sergio Garcia of the triumphant Ryder Cup team.

Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley are joined by Graeme McDowell, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane as well as David Higgins, Philip Walton and Connor Mallon, who qualify through the Irish PGA Region order of merit.

Higgins, already assured of a return to the regular circuit next year through his Challenge Tour ranking, picked up €10,800 for a share of 43rd at Carton House and is hopeful of making the cut at Wentworth as he also did last year.

The Red Bull Final Five competition provided great interest and fun at Carton before the defending Nissan Irish Open champion Brett Rumford came out on top thanks to a three under par run for the last five on Sunday evening. His magnificent prize is 10,000 air miles in an eight seater private jet and it was one that even the richest of pros were coveting through the four days.