Harrington's banana skin dents order of merit hopes

THE suspicion that Padraig Harrington is accident prone gained impetus at the Volvo Masters in Valderrama yesterday when he conceded two shots in bizarre fashion, seriously damaging his hopes of leading the European Tour order of merit come Sunday.

It is all to easy to recall how Harrington threw away the Benson & Hedges International at The Belfry in 2000 because of the card signing fiasco. That cost him stg£166,000 and world ranking and order of merit points.

Less memorable but also extremely expensive were the penalty shots he incurred for moving his ball at address on the 16th fairway during last year's Singapore Masters, where he eventually finished fifth. The same fate befell him at the 9th during the second round of the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000 when he also went on to finish fifth.