Dirty Harri and the Sundance Kid

Top gun Padraig Harrington will have the Sundance Kid on his side as he bids to keep his money list dream alive at the Home of Golf.

Millionaire business tycoon JP McManus will team up with the Dubliner in the star-studded Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews today.

And the pair will be hoping that they can repeat their 'double' win in 2002, when their successful battle for the overall team prize inspired Harrington a sudden-death win over Eduardo Romero in the tournament proper.

Harrington would go on to finish second in the Order of Merit that year, just €25,473 behind Retief Goosen.

But the Dubliner believes he can still become European No1 for the first time in his career - despite trailing current No 1 Paul Casey by €725,790.

A win at St Andrews on Sunday would be worth €630,566 and leave him within striking distance of the leader with the €4 million Volvo Masters to come.

And he's certainly up for it after a disappointing weekend in the American Express Championship in London saw him slip to 17th place.

Dismissing claims that the money title was beyond him, Harrington reflected on the Amex and insisted: “I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that because I have this week’s Dunhill Links and the Volvo Masters.

“I began to feel from Friday’s round onwards that my head just wasn’t in the right place. That could be due to tiredness after the Ryder Cup and I did well to get away with the scores I shot

"I’m still happy with the way I’m swinging the club and, to be honest, I’m looking forward to this week so that I can atone for what has been a very poor couple of days."

It's a tall order for the Dubliner, who has an excellent record in the celebrity-studded Pro-Am event that sees the pros play one round each at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews before the top 60 and ties return to St Andrews for the final round.

Not only has he to make up ground on Casey, but he also has to do better than David Howell, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, who are ahead of him in the money title race.

But he disagrees that doing it with an amateur playing partner makes it even harder and agrees with defending champion Colin Montgomerie, who says he was inspired by actor Michael Douglas last season.

After winning with McManus in 2002 and finishing third last year, he said: "The first thing is that you go out and enjoy it, because usually when you enjoy it, you tend to play a bit better and hopefully that will follow on.

"JP helped me win the individual, but if it was a normal tournament I might not have won. Having an amateur partner there gives you something else to focus on early on. You're not on your own, let's say, so it is a better situation like that."

Darren Clarke has teamed up with England cricket captain Michael Vaughan opposite Ryder Cup partner Lee Westwood and his manager Chubby Chandler.

The Dungannon man is set to draw a huge crowd after his heroics in the Ryder Cup and recovering cricket ace Vaughan is amazed by his performances.

Vaughan said: "I've got a good partner in Clarkey. He was phenomenal in the Ryder Cup. To be able to play to that level having been through was a tremendous effort and he is playing very well, as is Lee."

Like Clarke and Harrington, Paul McGinley will tee off his bid for a big cheque at St Andrews alongside actor Kyle MacLachlan and earn the right to defend his Volvo Masters title.

The Dubliner is currently 68th in the Order of Merit and will need to at least make the cut to move inside the top 60 guarantee his place at Valderrama.

But he is at least guaranteed a laugh opposite actor Bill Murray and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Dunhill boss Johan Rupert has attracted another celebrity-studded field with High Grant, Ian Botham, Dennis Hopper, Bobby Charlton and Johan Cruyff set to tee it up.

Howell partners Hugh Grant with Ryder Cup skipper Ian Woosnam paired with Ian Botham.

Ten of Woosnam's K Club heroes have made the trip with only Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald opting to take a week off.

Ulsterman Graeme McDowell will be rested after a three week break and eager to go one better than his play-off defeat to Stephen Gallacher in 2004.

Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane will be trying to secure their Volvo Masters places but Gary Murphy and Michael Hoey will be concentrating on racking up as much cash as possible.

Murphy is 117th in the money list needs decent finishes in his last two events to remain safe while Hoey needs a top finish as he is 194th with just €46,000 from 25 starts.