One should have known not to ask a qualified accountant, as it the case with Padraig Harrington, if he has done his Race to Dubai sons.
Harrington tees up in today’s (THU) inaugural Turkish Airlines Open lying 67th on the Race to Dubai standings and Euro 78,673 shy of being top-60 and qualifying for next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
After the adjustment in the standings following last week’s WGC – HSBC Champions event Harrington was correct in answering: “I need to finish 10th on the my own.”
Triple Major winning Padraig Harrington hoping he gets his sums correct. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
If so, it will need to be Harrington’s best finish since he shared 10th in June’s FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis or sixth that was his best European Tour result since March’s Maybank Malaysian Open.
“It goes without saying that I want to be playing in Dubai next week,” he said.
“I’ve only missed out on the final Race to Dubai event and that was two years ago, so that is the goal coming here to Turkey.
In his last event, the BMW Masters, Harrington commented on the toughness in now dealing with the length of the season, and that hasn’t changed in what could be his last event.
“It’s still a long season but then I’ve got a bit more gas in the tanks for hopefully these next two weeks,” he said.
“I am hoping it will be two weeks and I can cope with two weeks.”
And had Harrington not qualified for this week’s Turkish Airlines Open he revealed he would have travelled to South Carolina for the PGA Tour’s McGladdery Championship and the fifth event on the new 2013/14 schedule.
As it is, Harrington indicated he will now make his new season PGA Tour debut until the February 6th staring AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and more than a dozen events into the new season.
“If I don’t make next week’s event in Dubai it gives me an extra week off, so that means I will play one more early next year, and if I do make it into Dubai then I will take one out early next year,” he said.
“So, it’s a trade off!”
Harrington did confirm his first event of 2014 will be the same as it was this season and that is to tee-up in January’s Volvo Champions in Durban, South Africa.
Joining Harrington this week in Turkey is Shane Lowry who is 33rd on the Race to Dubai but has also slipped to 72nd on the World Rankings.
Also in the field is Damien McGrane who is 82nd on the money list.
