While the dogfight for World No. 1 shifts this week between Korea and Louisiana, Padraig Harrington alarmingly continues his slide down the rankings.
After missing the halfway cut in last week’s Volvo China Open, Harrington has now plunged to 41st on the rankings.
Despite his win in Johor last year, Padraig Harrington continues his slide down the world rankings.
It’s the first occasion in more than 11 years Harrington has been outside of the top-40 on the rankings.
In April, 2000 Harrington moved from 56th to 37th, and inside the top-50 for a first time in his career, with his two-stroke win in the Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open.
Since then Harrington’s continued his climb before peaking at No. 3 in February 2009 and strangely by missing the halfway cut in the AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
However after missing the cut earlier this month in the Masters, Harrington dropped to 36th and now after another poor display in China he’s fallen a further five spots.
And since the end of last year, Harrington’s dropped 18 places.
He’s still without a win on either the European Tour or PGA Tour for some 32 months since capturing a third Major in winning the 2008 U.S. PGA Championship.
Fortunately, Harrington remains exempt on the European Tour to the end of 2018 while he’s exempt into the Masters, U.S. Open and U.S. PGA to the end of 2013, and he can continue to play the British Open up to age 65.
But while Harrington looks to correct his slide, fellow Dubliner Peter Lawrie jumped 24 spots to 119th after finishing joint second in China.
Belguim’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who ended a 10-year drought to win in Chenghu, understandably pulled off the biggest jump in going from 175th to 105 in the world to equal his best world ranking achieved in May last year.
In contrast, Luke Donald was left to lament letting slip a second success in the States this year and with it the World No. 1 crown that Lee Westwood regained after a two-month absence.
A camera-clicking spectator distracted Donald all four days on the 18th tee but he only had himself to blame in finding a greenside bunker with his approach shot also into the 18th at the third play-off hole of the Heritage Classic in South Carolina.
Donald flew the green with his third but failed to get up-and-down to allow American Brandt Snedeker to grab the $US1m first prize cheque.
“It was hard to put it out of my mine as moving to No. 1 was going to produce some big rewards if I won,” said Donald.
“But I’ll try and find the positives from this week and move on to next week.
“It’s not like I am not going to have another shot at it, and certainly to be No. 1 is not the final goal.
“However to be No. 1 would be great. It certainly would be a tick a box and would be something great to talk to the grandkids in 30 years’ time and say to them that you were the best player in the world.
“But then I still have a lot of chances to do that.”
