Harrington on the money in Bahrain

Padraig Harrington

Padraig Harrington is hoping to coin it in Bahrain with his a new “lucky” ball marker.

The Dubliner wants to bounce back from his shock disqualification in Abu Dhabi last week by landing the €217,000 top prize in the inaugural Volvo Golf Champions.

Booted out when a TV viewer spotted that he’d moved his ball when he was removing his coin, the triple major winner insists won’t make the same mistake twice.

Harrington said: “The marker I was using that day was too small. It was a one-cent coin, and obviously if you use something a little bit bigger, your fingers don’t have to get so close to the ball. So that was half the issue.”

The Irish ace has made sure he’s got a new ball marker this week in the shape of a one dirham coin.

He joked: “Last week’s coins were perfect, the one dirham. That could be the lucky ball marker.”

The Dubliner, 39, is one of the hot favourites to win an event where England’s world No 9 Paul Casey is the highest ranked player in the field.

Yet he warned: “People see 65 and maybe they are thinking I’ve solved all the problems in my game and I’m going to shoot 65 every day, but that’s not the reality.”

Following Harrington’s “trial by TV” last week, officials have taken steps to avoid more calls from viewers by declaring that there are no bunkers on Colin Montgomerie’s desert design, just sandy waste areas.

Chief referee Andy McFee has decided that players can ground their club lightly behind the ball without penalty.

McFee said: “It will lead to some odd-looking situations, but that is infinitely preferable to players incurring penalties.

“As we know, television viewers are quick to call or write in when they see something wrong, but on this occasion we are alerting them, in advance, that this course is different.”

The course has come in for severe cricitism from the players because of the severity of the greens.

Ian Poulter tweeted: “Archeologists would have a field day at this golf course, there are hundreds of elephant & dinosaur remains buried under every green.”

England’s Paul Casey said: “I think everybody knows Monty’s going to get it in the neck this week.

“We’ve got a very good course from tee to green. It’s in wonderful condition and requires great ball-striking. The greens are very, very severe and you’re going to hear a lot from the pros maybe complaining about it.

“But ultimately we’ve got to figure a way round. I think the people who are going to be on the leaderboard will be those who put that to one side and don’t worry about bickering about the course.

“Strange things will happen, but somebody will win and I want my 11th European tour victory.

“You have to have a sense of humour. It’s good to have one when you play golf anyway, no matter where it is. You just have to roll with the punches - you will hit good shots and the next thing you know it’s rolling off the green.

“It’s going to happen, but there are no windmills out there!”