Golfing travails seem so trivial for Harrington now

Pádraig Harrington is offering millions of euro worth of advertising space to the highest bidder after a family tragedy put his recent golfing struggles into perspective.

The 40-year old Ryder Cup star and three-time major winner might have fallen from third to 87th in the world over the past three years, but he admitted in Florida yesterday that his sporting struggles mean nothing after his wife Caroline’s first cousin was paralysed from the waist down following a recent road traffic accident.

Gerard Byrne, a 35-year old father of three and the eldest son of Caroline Harrington’s aunt, was paralysed when his car hit black ice and skidded off the road in a single-car accident near his Monasterevin home the week after Christmas.