Padraig ninth in order of merit

IN spite of his disappointing weekend in the final Benson & Hedges International at The Belfry, Padraig Harrington is back up from 10th to 9th in the world rankings and up to third in the European Tour order of merit.

Harrington’s second place behind Paul Casey brought his total of winnings for the season to €529,754 behind Ernie Els (€969, 510) and Casey (€596, 226) while his world status improved by one spot. He has been swapping between 8th and 10th since the season began.

Having finished second for the 19th time at The Belfry, Harrington moves on this week to the Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe in Hamburg where Tiger Woods bids for a hat-trick in the event with a prize fund of €2.7m, one of the biggest on tour this year. Unfortunately, the greens at Gut Kaden have been struck by disease and it remains to be seen how the stars cope with putting surfaces which the Tour director of operations David Garland accepts are well short of the desired standard.