Harrington slides in rankings

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON has dropped a further two places in the world as he prepares for his bid to win The Open for a third year running.

Harrington won the Irish PGA championship – just as he did the last two years – on Saturday, but that does not carry any ranking points and he goes down from 12th to 14th.

That is the same position he was in when he triumphed at Birkdale last July, while he was 10th prior to his Carnoustie victory two years ago.