Dubliner joins the `Big Six'

The upwardly mobile graph is still going in the right direction for Padraig Harrington, who moved to a career best 19th place in the official world rankings announced yesterday. Yet, depending on the weather, one of the first trips that he will probably make, before he reappears on the competitive circuit in just over two weeks time for the Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass, is to see his coach Bob Torrance in Scotland.

All of which is an indication of Harrington's quest to continually better his game. While he has finished second, fifth and second in his three outings inside the past month, he acknowledges that a couple of areas, primarily his chipping, require further work: "After nearly a month away, I'm looking forward to getting home, talking with my coach, working on a few things and trying to continue this good form."

While Harrington's response to a suggestion that his game had already moved on to another level was "I'll let you guys judge that," there was no such hesitancy from Thomas Bjorn who claimed the so-called "Big Three" of the European Tour - Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke - has now expanded into a sextet of players.

"I think myself, Padraig and Michael (Campbell) have closed the gap on them, so there are six players on the European Tour who are really strong right now," said Bjorn, who has moved into the world's top 15 for the first time in 14th place following his win in the Dubai Desert Classic.

In other words, Bjorn feels any one of them is now capable of going over to the United States and winning - even if that is in a major.

He added: "I feel that I can play against the best players in the world. I feel I'm moving in the right direction as far as the world rankings is concerned." While Harrington has also moved up to that level, he may be a little reticent to say so himself. Yet in the past three years, he has improved his world ranking from 107th at the end of the 1998 season to a position where he is now with the real heavyweights of the sport.

Indeed, the careers of Harrington and Bjorn - who, in many ways, represent the new breed of European Tour player - have been inextricably linked ever since they fought out a duel in their debut season in 1996, at the end of which Bjorn edged out the Dubliner for the rookie-of-the-year award.

Since then, it is interesting to compare their end-of-season standings on the Order of Merit: Harrington has finished 11th (1996), eighth (1997), 29th (1998), seventh (1999) and seventh (2000), while Bjorn has finished 10th (1996), 15th (1997), sixth (1998), 14th (1999) and fifth (2000).

So, even at this early stage of the season, the two would appear to be certainties for Sam Torrance's Ryder Cup team with the Americans at the Belfry in September.

The pair have only reached such heights thanks to hard work, and Bjorn pinpointed Tiger Woods as being the man responsible for making others work so hard. "Before he came along," said Bjorn, "you could walk into the fitness unit and it would be empty. Now, you have to wait 45 minutes or an hour to use it because there are so many guys working out."

While Bjorn plans a hectic schedule over the coming weeks, which sees him seek back-to-back tour wins in this week's Qatar Masters followed by four tournaments in five weeks in the United States, Harrington is taking a well-earned break, apart from working on those areas of his game which need it. On Friday, he is also due to renew his club attachment to Mount Juliet but he may also squeeze in a trip to Largs to see Torrance if he feels he needs to before heading over to make his debut appearance in the Players' Championship, an event considered the so-called fifth major.

Meanwhile, if Bjorn and Harrington have their eyes on this year's Order of Merit title, they may yet have to deal with Woods, who looks set to add another European Tour event to his schedule this season. The world number one is considering playing the Lancome Trophy in Paris in the week before the Ryder Cup.

Woods's next trip across the Atlantic is for the Deutsche Bank-SAP TPC of Europe in Germany on May 17th-20th, and then he defends his British Open title at Royal Lytham and St Anne's on July 19th-22nd. His two appearances on the European Tour this season saw him win the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand last November and finish tied-second alongside Harrington and behind Bjorn in Dubai. While Ireland's top-two players, Harrington and Darren Clarke (who is scheduled to sign a new club attachment deal with Castletown in the Isle of Man tomorrow) bypass this week's Qatar Masters, others carry some good form with them from Dubai. Paul McGinley, despite falling to 80th in the latest world rankings, travels with a top-10 placing at the Emirates to boost him and then intends to take a month's break after Qatar. Eamonn Darcy, playing a limited schedule this season, also intends to take a month off after Qatar before returning for the Moroccan Open, while Des Smyth intends to play in Qatar and then in Madeira.