Harrington has victory scent

THIRTY European Tour members, led by Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, ranked 7th in the world, and Darren Clarke, 14th, tee off at golf’s most glamorous event this afternoon.

That number exceeds by five the previous record of 25 who participated 12 months ago. Vijay Singh actually qualifies even though he rarely competes in Europe and he is one of six former winners in the list, along with Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Jose-Maria Olazabal and Ian Woosnam.

All were part of the glorious spell that began with Seve Ballesteros (who opts out because of back problems) in 1980 while there are also seven debutants savouring the unique Augusta National atmosphere - Paul Casey, Open champion Ben Curtis, Brian Davis, Fredrik Jacobson, Ian Poulter, Philip Price and Lian-Wei Zhang.