Things are looking up for patient Pádraig

EVEN though he never figured close to the leaderboard in the WGC-NEC Championship at the weekend, Pádraig Harrington says he feels a whole lot better about his game after a couple of weeks in the US.

He is now in Munich preparing for the BMW International on Thursday, over the Nord-Eichenried course of which he has happy memories, having clinched his Ryder Cup debut there in 1999. Unfortunately, he goes into the event having slipped three places in the world rankings, 8th to 11th, the result of a period of inactivity after the death of his father followed by poor performances in the USPGA and the NEC.

"At some stage of the NEC, I did just about the right things so I'm a lot more upbeat about my game," said Harrington, who tied for 24th in that tournament and picked up €55,519.

"I didn't quite get it right all the time. I didn't drive it well for the first three days but drove it much better on Sunday. My putting let me down more than anything else.

"It's not a confidence thing. There's an unwritten rule like you drop one extra putt and you think you're playing better golf. You know, you get a break on the golf course, maybe that break is your ball doesn't have mud on it, doesn't finish in a divot, and all of a sudden you shoot a better score.

"That could be the catalyst to think you're playing better and then you do play better. You often see you go out there and you play your hardest and play your toughest and nothing is happening. It's not that you don't need to go practice, but at times it's not going and beating balls that could be the difference. It could be just waiting, being patient for it to come round, showing confidence in yourself. It's not confidence in your game, it's just confidence that if you do your thing, it will be good enough. That's really what it is ultimately."

Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell are not playing in Munich. Clarke, who shared 28th place in the NEC and won €45,059, is competing in the Buick Classic in Connecticut and McDowell is taking the rest necessary to cure the spinal problems caused by a motor accident late last month. He withdrew from the NEC during his first round because of the injury. Clarke has dropped to 18th in the latest world rankings with McDowell 48th and precariously close to falling out of the all-important top 50.

There is now every likelihood that the seven Irishmen regularly competing on tour (Harrington, Clarke, Paul McGinley, McDowell, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane) will be joined by two and possibly even three more compatriots in 2006.

The top twenty on the Challenge Tour at the end of the season move on to the regular tour and at present Waterville's David Higgins is fourth with 69,597 points and Michael Hoey 11th on 53,883. Hoey came in 14th in the Rolex Trophy in Switzerland at the weekend and won €4,650, while Higgins was 23rd (€2,250) in the same event. The Scot, Marc Warren, who recently captured the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge at Killarney, again emerged victorious on this occasion.

There is also good news of Athlone's Colm Moriarty who came home fifth in the Skandia PGA in Sweden over the weekend. He picked up €5,372 to improve to 62nd in the Challenge Tour order of merit with €16,871.

Unfortunately, Moriarty faltered on Sunday with a 74 having begun the event with fine rounds of 66, 66, 69. He closed on five under, three behind the winner David Patrick of Scotland, but he will make a fair bid to crash the top twenty should he maintain this kind of form.

Irish world rankings: 11th Padraig Harrington; 18th Darren Clarke; 35th Paul McGinley; 48th Graeme McDowell.

European Tour rankings: 6th McGinley 1,091,083; 17th, Clarke 810,929; 44th, McDowell 370,391; 45th, Peter Lawrie 369,605; 47th Harrington, 355,945; 52nd, Damien McGrane 330,701; 72nd Gary Murphy 263, 317.

Challenge Tour rankings (Irish): 4th, David Higgins 69,597; 11th, Michael Hoey 53,883; 62nd Colm Moriarty 16, 871.