Few golfers study statistics with as much intent as Padraig Harrington. And it won't have escaped his attention that, despite his rise to a top-10 place in the world rankings, yesterday's closure of entries for next week's Accenture World Matchplay championship in La Costa could have the Irishman playing Tiger Woods as early as the third round.

That is, of course, assuming both players get that far. The top-64 available players from the world rankings as of yesterday have earned their places in the field for the $5 million championship.

As things stand, and unless players withdraw due to sickness or injury before the official draw is made next Monday, then Harrington will play Alex Cejka in the first round.

Meanwhile, Darren Clarke, winner of the championship three years ago and the only other Irish player in the field, would face a first round encounter with England's Justin Rose.

For the first time, the four brackets at this year's championship will honour four of golf's greatest players - Bobby Jones, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan - and Woods and Harrington are seeded in the same bracket, the Bobby Jones.

Woods will take on Robert Karlsson, the world number 65, who gets into the field because Japan's Toru Taniguchi has withdrawn due to injury, in the first round.

As such, Harrington could be on course for an early meeting with Woods. The Dubliner is due to face Cejka, now based on the US Tour, in the first round, with the winner facing either Charles Howell or Scott Verplank in the second round.

If Woods wins his opening two rounds, then he would be next up for one of that quartet.

Of more immediate concern to Harrington, though, is a return to competitive duty in the Malaysian Open on the PGA European Tour this week. As winner of the Asian Open last November - his only outing on the 2003 European circuit - Harrington occupied the number one slot on the Order of Merit over the winter months.

The hot start to the season by Ernie Els, however, has changed all that and Harrington has now slipped to fourth position in the rankings, all of €304,414 behind the South African. Harrington opted to take a nine-week break from the game and has delayed his first start of the year until this week's Malaysian Open, where Paul McGinley - who doesn't get into the Accenture field - is the only other Irish player in the tournament.

For Harrington, the Malaysian will start a run of seven tournaments in eight weeks - also taking in the world matchplay, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Qatar Masters, followed by a week off and then the Players Championship at Sawgrass, the Bell South tournament in Atlanta and the US Masters at Augusta National - although that itinerary could change were a war to start in Iraq.

If that were to happen inside the next couple of weeks, then Harrington will consider adding on another tournament in America instead of Qatar.

Testimony to his desire to improve still further in the game, much of Harrington's time away from the golf course was actually spent in the gym, working on a fitness regime to ensure that the two injuries - neck and ankle - that affected him for stretches of last season don't recur.

"To be honest, it is pretty much a work in progress in working to combat any potential injuries. But I am getting there. The ankle is definitely getting stronger, which is the main thing," said Harrington.

"The neck injury is completely different. It is something that comes on when I'm actually playing golf through bad posture. I haven't been playing much golf so that's not a problem, it has not been flaring up.

"We'll have to see what it is like when I do get back, though.

"However, I've been working on strengthening everything up.

"I've worked out programmes specifically geared to the injuries - one is actually focused directly on the areas of problems, and one is then focused generally to make my body cope better with the stresses and strains of golf.

"But my ankle has responded very well, and that was the biggest problem I had last year."

It would seem that a fit-and-trim Harrington is resuming his quest for the Order of Merit with a healthy spring in his step.

IRISH PLACES ON EUROPEAN TOUR

Order of Merit - 4, P Harrington €247,967; 54, G Murphy €30,865; 86, P McGinley €18,430; 115, P Lawrie €12,127; 151, G McDowell €6,314.