Age: 26.

Born: Dublin.

Height: 6ft 1in

Weight: 14st

Turned Pro: 1995

European Tour Ranking:

1996 - - 11th, £325,343

1997 - - 8th, £388,982.

Professional Victories:

Spanish Open - 1996

Amateur Victories

Irish Open - 1994, 1995

Irish Amateur - 1995).

Representative Honours

Professional - World Cup: 1996, 1997 (winners). Dunhill Cup: 1996, 1997.

Amateur - Walker Cup (1991, 1993, 1995).

Although he only celebrated his 26th birthday in August - ironically enough on the same day that he just missed out on a place on Europe's Ryder Cup team - nobody could ever accuse Padraig Harrington of rushing into the professional game.

Not only did Harrington, a member of Stackstown where a giant portrait proudly adorns the entrance lobby, earn his stripes as an amateur (playing in the Walker Cup on three occasions, the first as a teenager at Portmarnock in 1991, and being a mainstay of the Irish amateur team), but he also took the precaution of completing his accountancy studies.

Coincidentally, Harrington was also an accomplished Gaelic footballer - he captained his school in Croke Park in his last football match - and his father, Paddy, played in an All-Ireland Final with his native Cork. However, Padraig was always destined to be a golfer and served his apprenticeship by playing on a succession of junior and senior teams with Leinster and Ireland.

The move to the professional ranks was the stuff of dreams. Harrington earned his card at the 1995 European Tour school and, playing in only his tenth professional event, he won the Spanish Open in Madrid. He finished 11th, with £325,343 in prizemoney, in his first year on the circuit and was narrowly edged out by Denmark's Thomas Bjorn in the prestige "Rookie of the Year" award.

As you'd expect from someone who practices assiduously, and who has a back-up team that includes coach Howard Bennett, sports pyschologist Dr Aidan Moran and physical fitness expert Helen Lennon, Harrington maintained the momentum in his 1997 season on the European Tour.

Although victory evaded his clutches, a second place finish in the rain-shortened end-of-season Volvo Masters was the high point, he did manage eight top-ten finishes which gave him eighth place, with £388,982 in prizemoney, on the Order of Merit.

And, on Saturday week in Rathfarnham, Padraig will marry his fiancee Caroline Gregan to make 1997 a very special year indeed.