Harrington hanging on to European pride

The Ryder Cup is proudly displayed on this side of the Atlantic, but for the first time since the world golf rankings were launched in 1986 Europe could soon be without a single player in the world’s top 10.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington is the only one left to fly the flag at the very top level at the moment with Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie dropping out of the elite group with woeful starts to 2003.

And a missed cut at the Masters two weeks ago, coupled with the victory there for Canadian Mike Weir, has left Harrington in 10th place and under threat from the likes of Nick Price, Chris DiMarco, Justin Leonard and Scott Hoch.

No European has won a Major since Paul Lawrie captured the 1999 Open at Carnoustie and none has been world number one since Nick Faldo in early 1994.

But there has always been at least one representative in the top 10 but with Harrington not in action again until the Benson & Hedges International Open at The Belfry in two weeks’ time that might be about to end.

In the very first ranking list 17 years ago this month, Bernhard Langer was world number one, Seve Ballesteros was second and Sandy Lyle was third.

Ian Woosnam was the next European to join the top 10, then Jose Maria Olazabal and at the Toyota World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in 1991 Woosnam, Masters champion and world number one by then, was followed on the list by Olazabal, Faldo and Ballesteros.

Montgomerie entered the top 10 in 1994 and Lee Westwood made it in 1998, but his career has nose-dived in the last two years and Garcia, Jesper Parnevik, Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn have all been unable to maintain the form that enabled them to reach the notable landmark for varying periods.

Now Harrington stands alone. Garcia has slipped from fourth to 11th this season, Montgomerie from 10th to 19th by surviving only one halfway cut so far.

Olazabal, Faldo and Bjorn are not in the leading 50 any more and Woosnam is down to 99th, while Parnevik has slumped to 126th, Westwood is outside the top 200 and Ballesteros can only dream of being that high again after four years in which he has made only a handful of cuts.

Obviously, Garcia starts his defence of the Spanish Open title in Tenerife tomorrow looking to end his slide and start climbing again.

An opening 69 in the Masters promised much and hinted that the swing changes he has been making were starting to feel more comfortable. It put him joint second behind Clarke, but it was followed by a 78 and in the end by a disappointing 28th place for the only man to post top-10 finishes in all four Majors last season.

Olazabal was the leading European at Augusta in eighth place, but he and Lawrie (joint 15th) were the only two in the top 27.