TOUR SCENE NEWS ROUND-UP:GOLFERS, ESPECIALLY of the professional variety, are forever ticking boxes. And although victory escaped them in the WGC-CA Championship – where Ernie Els collected the chinaware – there were, as Ian Dury and the Blockheads might have put it, many reasons to be cheerful for both Pádraig Harrington, who returned to the world's top-10, and Graeme McDowell in their respective build-ups to next month's US Masters at Augusta National.
Harrington, for one, made significant progress on a number of counts with his tied-third finish in Miami. It enabled him to move back ahead of Rory McIlroy as leading Irishman in the world rankings – the Dubliner jumping from 13th to 10th in the latest rankings – and he also moved back into an automatic place on the European team, as things stand, for the Ryder Cup match at Celtic Manor in October. Harrington has moved to fourth on the world points list.
With a St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House tomorrow in the offing for the Dubliner, Harrington will resume tournament play in this week’s Transition championship in Innisbrook resort – the third leg of the Florida swing – before a week off is followed by an appearance in the Shell Houston Open, his final event before the Masters.
Nonetheless, his first top-10 finish of the season would indicate that things are moving in the right direction for Harrington as he prepares for what will be his 11th appearance in the Masters. His best finishes were tied-fifth, in 2002 and 2008.
Harrington took away some observations with him from his final round, observing: “My bunker play was just not with it and pitching could have been a bit better. You don’t really see it until you are under pressure . . . but I’m happy. I need to be competing and testing myself.”
For McDowell, his tied-sixth finish in Doral –which enabled him to move to 41st from 50th in the world rankings – copper-fastened his place in the field for next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
The Ulsterman was right on the limit – occupying that 50th place in the world – heading into the CA, but ensured a berth in the Invitational thanks to a strong finish. “It’s great to finally get a top-10 under my belt as I felt I have been playing well enough to deserve good results,” he said.
McDowell is due to play in the Tavistock Cup on Monday and Tuesday of next week before moving on to the Bay Hill, which will be his last tournament outing before the Masters. “I’m perfectly set up to be well prepared for Augusta (now),” admitted McDowell, who finished runner-up to Vijay Singh in the 2005 Bay Hill Invitational.
While McIlroy is due to play a couple of practice rounds at Augusta over the coming days, the 20-year-old’s disappointing performances in the Honda and the CA have left him a little down in the run-up to Augusta and he intends to ease off on the physio work associated with his ongoing back problems.
“Half of it is probably mental, I’m starting off (rounds) in a negative mood,” said McIlroy, who will resume tournament play in Bay Hill.
Meanwhile, Paul McGinley makes a return to tournament play in this week’s Hassan II Trophy in Morocco. It will be the Dubliner’s first competitive appearance since last November after undergoing a sixth operation on an old knee injury.
McGinley is joined in Morocco by a strong Irish contingent that also features Shane Lowry, Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin.
