Harrington follows elite with his own website

GOLF: Tiger has one, and Ernie does too. So the logical thing for Padraig Harrington - currently Ireland's top-ranked player in the world at number 12 - to do was to follow the game's superstars and launch his own website, which is what the Dubliner did yesterday.

In Florida to compete in the $6 million Players' Championship at Sawgrass, Harrington will use the new site which is called "www.padraigharrington.com", to extend his growing fan base, both in Europe and the US.

"I've really enjoyed working on setting up the site and I am certainly looking forward to keeping my supporters up to date throughout the season. I hope I will have many tournament wins to report on," said Harrington.

Among the features on the site is "Club Padraig" which is free to members who sign up with benefits including prize competitions and player analysis from "Pro Punter" and a photo library with access to high resolution images of the golfer and the opportunity to purchase copies. Competition prizes will be donated by Harrington's sponsors, including Baggot Racing, Callaway, Hi-Tec, Irish Life, Kartel, Mount Juliet, U4EA and Wilson.

Harrington is one of three Irish players, along with Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, competing in the Players. In his debut appearance last year, Harrington finished tied-33rd while Clarke enjoyed his best finish (tied-26th) in four appearances. McGinley is making his debut in the event.