Harrington will compete for coveted green jacket

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON confirmed last night that he will play in next week’s Masters tournament at Augusta National.

The world No 6 returned from the States on Tuesday to be with his father, Paddy, who is suffering from cancer. He had originally intended to play in this week’s Bell South Classic in Atlanta in the build-up to the Masters.

“My dad is feeling a great deal better so I will fly out to Augusta on Sunday in good time for the Masters”, said Harrington yesterday.

“Apart from meeting Dad, I have been practicing away at home and my coach Bob Torrance is coming over tomorrow (Friday), when we will work on my game and we will have another session on Saturday.”

This is Harrington’s sixth appearance in the Masters. He made his debut in 2000 when he tied for 19th and since then his record is tied 27th; tied 5th; missed cut and tied 13th. A keen devotee of the pre-tournament Par 3 event, he is the defending champion after beating Eduardo Romero in a play-off twelve months ago having tied with David Toms the previous year. However, he may not be so keen on retaining the title given that the winner has never gone on to capture the green jacket itself in the same year since the competition was introduced in 1960.

The participation of Harrington, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell means that Ireland will have a record equalling three players competing. In 2002, Harrington and Clarke were joined by Paul McGinley who was unlucky not to get among the leading fifteen players who are invited back for the following year. He shot rounds of 72, 74, 71 and 71 for an even par total of 288 and a share of 18th spot.

The other Irishmen to have competed in the Masters are the late Joe Carr, Christy O’Connor Junior, Ronan Rafferty and David Feherty.

Meanwhile Seve Ballesteros is set to end 17 months out of golf in the Spanish Open at San Roque on April 14.

Unable to play in next week’s Masters because of a right knee injury, the 47-year-old former world number one has now added his name to the list of entries for his national championship - the event which saw the last of his 87 victories 10 years ago.

Ballesteros’s last competitive appearance was for the Seve Trophy at El Saler in November 2003 when his Continental Europe side lost to Colin Montgomerie’s Britain and Ireland team.

Early last season he feared an arthritic back condition would end his career but by July he was starting to sound more optimistic and his main hope for this year is to return to the Open Championship at St Andrews.

It was at the home of golf that Seve enjoyed arguably his finest moment in 1984, denying Tom Watson a record-equalling sixth title and winning the second of his three Opens.

There have been few sadder sights in sport than his decline since. He has not made a cut in a major since the 1996 Masters and has not played the Open since Lytham in 2001, the season he fell outside Europe’s top 200 by making only five cuts from 19 starts.

He has also had a marriage break-up recently and was the subject of a European Tour investigation after an incident involving Jose Maria Zamora, the official whom he had an earlier row over slow play with.