Mickelson withdrawal helps Harrington

Padraig Harrington will need to climb to 65th in the world rather than 64th to earn a place in next month’s Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Phil Mickelson has said he will miss the event – the first World Golf Championship of the season – to take a family holiday, freeing up an extra space on the entry list.

Harrington’s 10th-placed finish at the Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa has lifted him only one spot from 89th to 88th in the new rankings.

The Dubliner is part of the star-studded field this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the tournament where he started with a 65 last year but then was disqualified over a ball-moving incident picked up by an eagle-eyed television viewer.

The sport’s ruling bodies saw the unfairness of the disqualification and if the same was to happen this week it would be only a two-stroke penalty.

South African Branden Grace’s back-to-back European Tour wins – a month after coming through the qualifying school – have lifted him to 92nd in the world from 271st at the start of the year.

The other big mover in 2012 so far is American Johnson Wagner. First and joint second the past two weeks, he is now 68th after ending last year 220th.

This week sees the world top four – Europeans Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer – all play their first events in Abu Dhabi. Tiger Woods, currently 25th, will be there too.

Latest leading positions:

1 Luke Donald 9.89, 2 Lee Westwood 7.63, 3 Rory McIlroy 7.41, 4 Martin Kaymer 6.20, 5 Steve Stricker 5.95, 6 Webb Simpson 5.30, 7 Adam Scott 5.24, 8 Charl Schwartzel 5.14, 9 Dustin Johnson 5.06, 10 Jason Day 4.93

11 Matt Kuchar 4.64, 12 Nick Watney 4.52, 13 Graeme McDowell 4.45, 14 KJ Choi 4.43, 15 Phil Mickelson 4.08, 16 Justin Rose 3.77, 17 Sergio Garcia 3.74, 18 Hunter Mahan 3.68, 19 Ian Poulter 3.66, 20 Paul Casey 3.56

Other leading Europeans:

22 Alvaro Quiros, 27 Robert Karlsson, 28 Simon Dyson, 32 Martin Laird, 38 Anders Hansen, 39 Thomas Bjorn, 42 Fredrik Jacobson, 44 Francesco Molinari, 46 Miguel Angel Jimenez,

47 Peter Hanson, 50 Darren Clarke, 52 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 60 Matteo Manassero, 65 Alexander Noren, 66 Joost Luiten, 72 Nicolas Colsaerts, 73 Edoardo Molinari, 76 Pablo Larrazabal, 84 Paul Lawrie, 85 Carl Pettersson, 88 Padraig Harrington, 91 David Lynn, 93 Gregory Havret, 99 Jamie Donaldson, 100 Raphael Jacquelin