Harrington leads the winners

WITH a round of 69 under his belt yesterday, Padraig Harrington moved towards the clubhouse with the swagger of a man who was on his way to collect the winner's prize but, when he got there, he discovered that there was no prize for the Tour players in yesterday's pro am at The K Club.

Harrington, who holed everything out in the belief that his round would count, took consolation from the fact that his performance had helped his team, which included the host club's Bill Cullen, Noel Breene and Eric Leonard, land the top prize.

They picked up two shots on the final green to finish on 124, two better than the sides led by Paul Broadhurt and Rodger Davis.

Charlie McCreevey, who has been part of the winning side in the Irish Open curtain raiser for the past two years, finished one stroke further back as part of a team guided round by Eamonn Darcy. Graham Spring stepped in at the last minute to join up with Peter O'Malley, Arthur Spring and Joe Carey in place of his uncle Donal, and they too came home with a score of 127.