McDowell and Harrington encouraged by starts

THE Volvo Masters has been good to the Irish over the years. Ronan Rafferty, Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington have all captured the season-ending championship but only Rafferty did so at Valderrama.

That situation doesn’t look like changing this year. Harrington and Graeme McDowell certainly aren’t out of it on one over par 72, but they are already six off the lead and it is doubtful if their game is in sufficiently good shape to redress the imbalance.

And the prospects for our two other big hopes, Paul McGinley and Clarke, are even poorer, as they stand on 74 and 76 respectively.