Harrington recovers in time to compete

Padraig Harrington will be fit to play in the 82nd USPGA Championship which starts here at Valhalla GC tomorrow. But he will have the benefit of only one practice round, due to muscular problems which caused his neck to stiffen up last weekend.

Indeed the 28-year-old Dubliner has had a decidedly unhappy build-up to this, his second appearance in the USPGA in which he failed to make the halfway cut at Winged Foot in 1997. He has been forced to find a replacement caddie due to the fact that his regular man, Dave McNeilly, was refused admission to the US last Saturday, having filled out an immigration form incorrectly.

It seems that on the visa waiver form, he inadvertently ticked that he was travelling here on holiday, when it should have been on business.

Paul McGinley arrived on schedule on Monday but Darren Clarke's travel arrangements were far from ideal, in that he got here yesterday morning on a 6.15 a.m. flight out of Philadelphia. "I had to abandon a round of golf at Pine Valley on Monday after only one hole, because of torrential rain, and I then had a six-hour wait in the airport," he said, forcing a smile.

Meanwhile, a welcome shaft of light has emerged for Harrington. His replacement caddie, Tim King, worked with Per-Ulrik Johansson when the Swede finished in a share of eighth place behind Mark Brooks, in the USPGA here at Valhalla four years ago. So he is familiar with the Jack Nicklaus-designed layout.

Another piece of good fortune is that he had earlier arranged what was intended as a routine appointment here with Australian chiropractor Dale Richardson, who has about 20 golfers as clients. And he subjected the Dubliner to intense, manipulative treatment which has proved successful.

The problem, which began during the Dutch Open three weeks ago, was actually a case of referred pain. Apparently x-rays confirmed that muscle damage on the left side of his back caused a compensatory reaction which, in turn, led to severe pain on the right side of his neck.

Clearly favouring his neck here yesterday, Harrington said: "Obviously it's good that I'll be fit enough to play, but I had cause to be seriously concerned when I was lying on my back in my hotel since arriving here last Saturday."

Harrington hit his first shots yesterday, and they were decidedly gentle - some putts and the odd pitch. "The greens are going to be quick and I need to get the feel of them," he explained. "Then I will have a full practice round tomorrow."

Typically pragmatic, he concluded: "Sure, it's not the ideal build-up for a major championship but I might not have been able to play at all. Treatment and rest have done the trick and I feel unbelievably better than I did when I came here."

Meanwhile, Clarke is acutely aware of slipping back into his old, under-achieving ways.

"A consequence of winning the Andersen Consulting was that I automatically set higher targets for myself this season," said the conquerer of Tiger Woods at La Costa last February. "And to be honest, I haven't scored as well as I would have liked."

Clarke, who shot 70 at Salem GC on Saturday and 69 at Pine Valley on Sunday, went on to attribute much of the problem to a failure to sink sufficient eight and 10-foot putts. "That's the scoring distance," he said ruefully. "You've got to be getting your share of those into the hole to be competing for tournaments on a regular basis."