Harrington needs Ryder Cup boost

From Brian Keogh in San Diego

Padraig Harrington is fed up with his snail’s pace progress in the race to make Nick Faldo’s European Ryder Cup team.

The Dubliner, 36, is desperate to clinch his fifth cap at Valhalla in Kentucky in September.

But despite finishing tied fourth in Memphis, just a shot away from a play-off for the Stanford St Jude Championship, the Open champion is still outside the magical top-ten qualifying places.

Frustrated to remain eighth in the World Points List and 15th in the European Points, the Dubliner reckons he needs a win to ease his worries.

Before jetting out of Memphis, Harrington said: “I’m disappointed with fourth place because obviously I am aware of Ryder Cup and things like that and today really does me no good.

“Since the Ryder Cup points started, from September to the end of last year, I’d nothing outside the top 10.

“This year, in my seven starts in the States I’ve had four top fives, an 11th and a 17th and yet I am not gaining points. I’d be better off having one win and none of the other top fives.

“It’s frustrating. There’s a vast difference between winning and finishing tied fourth as I did today.”

Harrington has played six events that count towards the European Points list since the start of 2008.

But his best effort is still that share of fifth place behind Trevor Immelman in the Masters at Augusta.

His three most recent finishes before Memphis saw him sandwich a share of 31st place in the Irish Open between missed cuts in The Players Championship and the Wales Open.

And with just 11 weeks to go before Faldo must choose his two wild cards, Harrington needs a big result to move into the automatic places.

A win in the US Open would catapult him to the top of both the World Points and European Points lists.

But as things stand he now faces serious competition of his place through the world rankings route.

Sergio Garcia tied with Harrington in Memphis, moving up from fifth to fourth in the cup standings, while Graeme McDowell's eighth place in Austria was enough to lift him from 10th to ninth in the points table.

The top 10 who would earn places in Nick Faldo's team as things stand are: Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Oliver Wilson, Nick Dougherty, McDowell and Martin Kaymer.

Harrington and England’s Luke Donald would currently be clear favourites for Faldo's two wild cards.

Latest leading places in the European Ryder Cup tables after the Bank Austria GolfOpen and Stanford St Jude Championship (top five on world list on August 31 qualify, plus next five on European list. Captain Faldo then adds two wild cards):

World List:

(Capitals indicate players currently in qualifying positions)

1 LEE WESTWOOD 176.12
2 JUSTIN ROSE 165.25
3 HENRIK STENSON 158.22
4 SERGIO GARCIA 157.22
5 MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ 156.86
6 Robert Karlsson 142.93
7 Luke Donald 134.66
8 Padraig Harrington 132.47
9 Daniel Chopra 117.90
10 Martin Kaymer 116.45
11 Ian Poulter 109.20
12 Oliver Wilson 105.05

European List:

1 Jimenez 1,640,753
2 Westwood 1,618,065
3 ROBERT KARLSSON 1,616,636
4 Stenson 1,241,701
5 Rose 1,239,606
6 OLIVER WILSON 1,229,157
7 NICK DOUGHERTY 1,017,694
8 GRAEME McDOWELL 975,322
9 MARTIN KAYMER 959,244
10 Soren Hansen 936,057
11 Soren Kjeldsen 883,485
12 Steve Webster 832,105