Harrington targeting Tour win as

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON heads to the United States for an eighth and last occasion this year, still striving for a first Tour win of the season.

Harrington will tee-up on Thursday for the Tour Championship on the East Lake course in Atlanta, Georgia seeking to deny Tiger Woods’ hope of capturing the FedEx Cup. Victory in the season-ending event would earn Harrington a $1.2m cheque.

But capturing the FedEx Cup would deliver Harrington a further $10m windfall from a $30m bonus pool.

After the anticlimactic conclusions to the first two years of the US Tour Playoffs, this year could finally deliver what the FedEx Cup first promised.

There are two players in the 30-player field – Harrington and Jim Furyk – who could win the FedEx Cup without having won a tournament all season, an outcome which could see the competition receive more criticism.

Harrington, sixth on the FedEx Cup points table, can bring home the trophy by finishing in second place in Atlanta if Tiger Woods finishes tenth or worse.

Actually, if Harrington did finish runner-up and Woods finished tenth, the Dubliner would also need Steve Stricker (second on the points table) to finish fifth or worse, along with having Furyk (third) end fourth or worst, Zach Johnson (fourth) and Heath Slocum (fifth) third or worse.

But that’s not the end of Harrington’s woes. He can’t have either of the following winning the Tour Championship either: Sean O’Hair (seventh), Scott Verplank (eighth), Kenny Perry (ninth), Jason Dufner (tenth), Dustin Johnson (11th), Nick Watney (12th), Geoff Ogilvy (13th), Phil Mickelson (14th) or Retief Goosen (15th).

Furyk needs also only to finish second and Woods fourth or poorer, and he will capture the Cup.

Then there’s Stricker. He can finish third or worse and he will become the FedEx Cup hero should any of the following not win the Tour Championship – Harrington, Johnson, Slocum, O’Hair and Verplank.