Harrington hoping old magic will banish controversy

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON returns to the scene of his greatest triumph today desperately trying to forget the controversy which stopped him celebrating his latest victory.

Harrington partnered Paul McGinley to victory in the World Cup at Kiawah Island in 1997, and is back at the same venue this week to try and repeat the trick.

But the events of last Sunday at the Seve Trophy are still preying on the Irishman's mind following Great Britain and Ireland's victory over Continental Europe.

Harrington ensured the holders would retain the trophy at El Saler but his crucial half point against Jose Maria Olazabal was a cause for consternation rather than celebration after a rules dispute.

Now Harrington knows he must try and put the problem to the back of his mind until he and Olazabal meet again possibly at the Hong Kong Open in December which Harrington is scheduled to play and Olazabal won two years ago.

"This is the great thing about golf, there is always another week," Harrington said. "If you lose a tournament or the tournament doesn't go well, the minute you tee it up the following week, your focus goes to the future and you tend to leave the past behind. Nothing has happened since Sunday night, we have to see how time goes along. Obviously it's something that's said and done now.

"There's nothing more to say until we meet again. We had a good conversation afterwards and it's something, considering a big week like this, I certainly have to keep out of my mind and leave it in the past. There's nothing I can say or do now.

"He told me he was taking two or three months off so I'm not too sure what his schedule is. I have to concentrate on the job at hand and that's this week. There's no point in thinking or worrying about it."

McGinley and Harrington finished eighth last year in Mexico but McGinley admitted they have not done as well as expected since the format was changed so that only one player's score counted on each hole.

"We have great memories of Kiawah and it's always nice to come back to a course where you've won before," added McGinley.

"But it's going to be a bit tougher than before, we're playing more of the back tees and a different format. We performed better under the old format but we're due a good week.

"The greens are very firm, they're raised up and that caused havoc in 1991 at the Ryder Cup, guys pitching on and rolling off greens.

"In 1997 we didn't have much of a breeze but the forecast is stronger for this week and you'll see a lot of guys hitting good shots, rolling off greens and having to pitch back up so you're not going to see low scoring as you did in 1997."

England and Ireland are among the later starters but the Scottish team of Paul Lawrie and Alastair Forsyth will have the honour of hitting the first shots in the event. They are in the first group out at 8:43am local time alongside the Mexican pairing of Alejandro Quiroz and Antonio Maldonado, with the Welsh team of Bradley Dredge and Ian Woosnam in the following match.

Woosnam is a late replacement for flu victim Phil Price, but will bring invaluable experience to the side. The former US Masters champion has played in all of the major team events at Kiawah Island, competing in the Ryder Cup in 1991, the 1997 World Cup and the 2001 Warburg Cup.

The American team was one of 11 of the 18 exempt nations to be hit by withdrawals, with first choices Tiger Woods and Davis Love turning down the chance to play. Next in line were Jim Furyk and David Toms, but with Toms also declining the opportunity to win the $1.4 million (per team) first prize, US Open champion Furyk is partnered by Justin Leonard.

Japan are the defending champions but Toshi Izawa's place alongside Shigeki Maruyama is taken by Hademichi Tanaka, while Sweden are represented by Fredrik Jacobson and Niclas Fasth and strongly fancied to challenge.