Tour News/World Rankings:Yesterday, two things happened to Padraig Harrington. First, without hitting a ball, he moved up one place - past Retief Goosen - to number seven in the first world rankings of 2007; and, second, he was named as Professional of the Year for 2006 by the Irish Golf Writers' Association (IGWA), in recognition of an outstanding campaign that ultimately saw him claim the Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the PGA European Tour Order of Merit.
Harrington, currently enjoying a short holiday in Dubai before next week starting his year's work as one of the star billings in the Abu Dhabi Championship, which will be his inaugural appearance in the tournament, will receive his award at the IGWA annual dinner, sponsored by O2, in Elm Park Golf Club in Dublin, on Thursday, January 25th. It is his fifth professional writers' honour since he joined the paid ranks in 1996.
The other award winners for 2006 have been named as Rory McIlroy (men's amateur), Martina Gillen (women's amateur) and Gerry O'Brien (Distinguished Services).
McIlroy, the 17-year-old phenomenon from Holywood Golf Club, captured the European amateur strokeplay championship as well as becoming the first player since Joe Carr in 1946 to successfully retain the Irish Close title, while Gillen won the Irish Women's Open strokeplay championship and finished runner-up in the Irish Close.
O'Brien, a former intercounty Gaelic footballer for Dublin, will be presented with the Distinguished Services award for his contribution to golf .
O'Brien, who won the Lord Mayor's Cup in 1976, was president of the Golfing Union of Ireland in 1987 and served as honorary secretary of the GUI from 1990 to 2004.
Harrington, who finished 2006 as Europe's leading golfer after winning the European Tour money title in a season that saw him win the Dunhill Links, and, later, outgun Tiger Woods to win the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan, has taken a shorter than usual winter break and plans to resume competitive action in Abu Dhabi next week where Goosen, Chris DiMarco, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie have also been enticed to play.
While Harrington's first outing of the year will be in the Middle East, the vast majority of his early-season campaign will actually be conducted in the US.
Harrington's first planned outing in America will be in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on February 8th (when he will partner businessman JP McManus in the tournament), followed by a stint that will take in the Nissan Open in Los Angeles, the Accenture World Matchplay in Arizona and the Honda Classic in Florida that will take him into March.
After a fortnight's break, he will start his run-in to the Masters in Augusta with the CA Championship (formerly the American Express) in Doral.
Indeed, it is feasible that Harrington's first appearance in Europe this season will be in the Irish Open, which moves to a new venue at Adare Manor in May, a week after the rescheduled Players Championship, which has moved from its traditional March date to May and a week ahead of the BMW (PGA) Championship at Wentworth.
Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke, who were part of the winning Ryder Cup team with Harrington at The K Club in September, will make their seasonal reappearances in this weekend's Royal Trophy match in Bangkok, an event that pitches eight-man teams from Europe (led by Seve Ballesteros) and Asia (captained by Joe Ozaki).
1. Tiger Woods (US) 19.89
2. Jim Furyk (US) 8.72
3. Adam Scott (Australia) 7.50
4. Phil Mickelson (US) 6.78
5 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 5.97
6. Ernie Els (South Africa) 5.88
7. Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 5.55
8. Retief Goosen (South Africa) 5.53
9. Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 5.26
10. Luke Donald (England) 5.26
11. Sergio Garcia (Spain) 4.98
12. Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 4.83
13. Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 4.55
14. Paul Casey (England) 3.90
15. David Howell (England) 3.79
16. Davis Love (US) 3.79
17. Colin Montgomerie (Scotland) 3.49
18. Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 3.44
19. David Toms (US) 3.37
20. Nick O'Hern (Australia) 3.28
21. Chris DiMarco (US) 3.25
22. Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 3.17
23. Stuart Appleby (Australia) 3.16
24. Shingo Katayama (Japan) 3.14
25. Stewart Cink (US) 3.08
26. Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 3.04
27. KJ Choi (South Korea) 3.00
28. Tim Clark (South Africa) 2.98
29. Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 2.96
30. Rod Pampling (Australia) 2.92
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