Tour dilemma for Harrington
After missing the halfway cut in the 96th PGA Championship, Harrington was heading to Greensboro in North Carolina and needing to finish top-two in the $5.3m (€3.9m) Wyndham Championship if he is to retain full tour membership rights for the start of the 2014/15 PGA Tour wraparound schedule.
Harrington has been competing full-time on the PGA since 2007. He earned a five-year Tour exemption for winning Open Championship in 2007 and that was extended when he won the 2008 Open and the 2008 PGA Championship.
However, that exemption ended last year but as Harrington finished 116th on the PGA Tour money list in 2013 he kept his ‘card’ to compete this year.
Arriving at Valhalla, Harrington was ranked 263rd in the world and 188th on the money list with PGA Tour earnings this year of $169,175 (€126,139).
It has been Harrington’s poorest money-earning year in 14 money-earning PGA Tour seasons.
Also this year was the first time since 2000 Harrington had not competed in the Masters and also the US Open. However, it is not all bad news with the PGA Tour’s John Bush indicating there are a number of doors open to the Irishman to remain on the PGA Tour.
Firstly, he can avail himself of a one-time and one-year exemption under Category 10A of the PGA Tour rules given he is inside the top-50 on the all-time ‘Career Money’ list.
Four players did that this season and they were Stephen Ames, Mark Calcavechhia, Fred Funk and Mike Weir.
There’s also a Category 10B for those players among the top-25 earnings that also may elect this special one- time exemption.
Harrington is currently 36th overall in money earned on the PGA with $22.5m (€16.7m) in prize money so if he should drop outside the top 125 this coming week on the 2014/15 money list then that option is open to him.
As well, if Harrington finished from 126th to 150th on the money list he would get a limited number of starts on next year’s Tour.
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