Harrington and McDowell out to make cut

GOLF:THREE-TIME Major winner Pádraig Harrington, who cancelled a family holiday to the Bahamas to play in the Wyndham Championship to qualify for the FedEx Cup play-offs, duly obliged last weekend with a closing 68 to make the 125-man field.

Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell will also be hoping to be among the top 100 players to make the cut and continue in the series.

World number one Luke Donald also hopes to be more than €11 million richer in a month’s time – but for him there is a downside to the FedEx Cup play-offs as well as the cash bonanza.

“Since they arose a few years back it has made my schedule busier,” said Donald, who after failing to break his Major duck this season has his sights on the double of European Tour money list title and FedEx Cup.

The four-event series begins today with The Barclays at Edison in New Jersey and also features Justin Rose, McDowell, Harrington, Ian Poulter, Brian Davis and Martin Laird.

“It’s really condensed my PGA Tour schedule – instead of from January to November it’s from January to September, so I feel like there’s less opportunities to take breaks during the year.

“I’m playing a lot more and that hurt me a little bit this year. I probably didn’t prepare quite as well for the US Open – I felt over-golfed.

“And looking at the possible schedule for next year it’s going to be busy again. If I play a couple of events in Europe around The Open championship like I did this year – I have commitments to play in the Canadian Open – there’s a possibility I could be playing 10 out of 12 weeks at the end.”

And that will conclude, one would imagine, with the Ryder Cup in Chicago in the last week of September.

“That’s a lot of golf – more than I would like to. It makes it tough, especially if you’re playing both tours.”

Even before a competitive shot has been struck there has been something to make the week memorable – the players felt the earthquake that struck northern Virginia on Tuesday.

Defending FedEx Cup champion Jim Furyk was in the interview tent when the floor began to shake, causing him to pause a few moments until the tremors subsided.