Harrington facing Vardon KO

Padraig Harrington will play the Jolly Green Giant this week as iceman Robert Karlsson bids to leave him out in the cold in the Order of Merit race.

The reigning Open and US PGA champ will tee it up in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf  in Bermuda today on what he has described as a "two-day jolly."

But while Harrington is busy picking up a guaranteed €130,000 in the Grand Slam exhibition match, 6 foot 5 giant Karlsson will be trying to complete a hat-trick of European Tour wins in the Portugal Masters that that could put him €642,425 ahead of the Dubliner and make him odds on to lift the money title for the first time.

With "only" €704,000 on offer for the winner of the season-ending Volvo Masters, Harrington could come up empty handed in the battle for the Harry Vardon Trophy for the second year on the trot.

Despite his two Major wins, the Irish superstar lost his lead at the top of the Order of Merit when Karlsson snatched his second tournament win on the trot in the Dunhill Links Championship two weeks ago.

He admits that the race is now in Karlsson's hands but having won the Order of Merit in 2006, he will not be too disappointed if he sits down to his Christmas dinner with only the Claret Jug and the Wannamaker Trophy on the sideboard.

Adding new titles to his list of achievements pushes him on and he will be keen to make up for last year's play-off defeat to Angel Cabrera for the Grand Slam title.

Thanks to his Major double this year, Harrington is one of just two current Major champions in the field at Bermuda's Mid Ocean Club.

With US Open champion Tiger Woods out injured, he is joined by Masters winner Trevor Immelman with Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk invited to fill out the fourball on the strength of their Major championship performances this year.

The winner of the 36-hole strokeplay event will take home $600,000 (€400,000) with $300,000 (€200,000) for second, $250,000 (€170,000) for third and $200,000 (€130,000) for the man coming home last.

But there are even bigger riches on offer in the €3 million Portugal Masters, where Karlsson will be trying to match Tiger Woods by landing his third consecutive European Tour win.
After following a win in the Mercedes-Benz Championship with victory at St Andrews, Karlsson  is looking to become the first Swede to lift the coveted Harry Vardon Trophy.

A top prize of more than €500,000 at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura would make him nearly uncatchable in the race to become European No 1.

The cool Swede is not getting ahead of himself but he knows that he can virtually kill off Harrington's chances ahead of the Volvo Masters at Valderrama by performing this week.

Karlsson said: "He's not playing, so if I do my job well, maybe I can build a little bit of a cushion. But it's not that important. I have exceeded my expectations on the season so far.

"I've made The Ryder Cup Team. I've had I don't know how many Top-10s, a bunch of top threes, two wins. Now what more can I expect? I'm just out here playing and having fun. And then we'll see what happens.

"Padraig's won two majors and it's hard to top that. The only better thing you could do is win three majors. He is probably better in the bigger picture."

Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jiménez are still mathematically alive in the race for the Order of Merit.

But with Karlsson finishing runner up to Steve Webster last year, Westwood may need to improve on his third place finish that time if he is to take the Order of Merit title for the second time in his career.

Ireland will have six players in the field with Damien McGrane keen to build on his share of eighth place in the Madrid Masters on Sunday - his first top 10 since he lifted the Volvo China Open in April.

Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke will be bidding to consolidate their positions in the top 15 on the money list and are joined by Paul McGinley, Rory McIlroy, Peter Lawrie Gary Murphy.