Harrington's neck on the line yet again

Tour news: Padraig Harrington's neck strain is proving to be as stubborn as the player himself. Philip Reid reports

Yesterday, a day on from his fifth-place finish in Macau, the 32-year-old Dubliner arrived in the sprawling Chinese city of Shanghai to prepare for the defence of his BMW Asian Open and was more than a little perturbed to discover that the injury sustained at the US Masters a month ago had returned.

"I thought it had cleared up but woke up to find it was back again," he remarked.

There's no question of Harrington being unable to defend his title - indeed, by a quirk of the tournament calendar he will again be placed in the role of holder for next week's Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe in Heidelberg, Germany - but the injury, a recurring one that relates to the C5 vertebra, is one that he would prefer didn't exist at all.

"Hopefully, when I do some work it will go," he said. "It is a question of staying on top of it, and the strain will remain until I manage to ease the pressure on my shoulders, which are tighter because of the physical work I do. It is all interrelated."

Unfortunately for Harrington, his physical therapist, Dale Richardson, is not on tour with him in China this week, but the Australian will be present in Germany next week.

His most recent recurrence of the neck strain came after the US Masters, but Harrington still competed in the following week's Irish PGA Championship at St Margaret's, a tournament he went on to win for the second time.

After playing in the Irish PGA, Harrington took a couple of weeks' break from competition before resuming play in the Far East. And he prepares for the defence of his Asian Open title coming off the back of his efforts in Macau, a tournament on the Asian Tour.

"I'm glad I played there, it was something I needed to do after a three-weeks break from tournament play. I was amazed how rusty I was on the first day but I had a good week, played well on the last day, and really one big hiccup (a triple bogey on the eighth) cost me my chance to win. That was a killer on a course where you're trying to make birdies and there was no way to come back."

Harrington, who remains number eight in the official world rankings, and his Ryder Cup colleague Paul McGinley - who has made an excellent recovery from knee surgery and has decided to add the tournament onto his schedule in his ongoing quest to retain his place on the European team for the defence of the trophy in September - are the only two Irishmen in the field in Shanghai, which is a tournament co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours. Miguel Angel Jimenez and KJ Choi are also among the entries.

The rest of the Irish tour contingent, including Darren Clarke, still ranked 14th in the world, will resume playing in Heidelberg.

As things stand, there are no fewer than four Irish players - Clarke, Harrington, Graeme McDowell and McGinley - in the top 25 on the European Tour money list.

"Playing in Macau was definitely a good warm-up for the next couple of weeks," insisted Harrington. "It was something I needed to do. I don't approach a tournament that I am the defending champion any differently to one where I am not. I approach every tournament, whether it is big or small, in Europe or the United States or Asia, in the same manner. No matter where I am, the approach is the same because I feel that is good for your performance. You don't change anything.

"One of my main reasons for coming to somewhere like China is that it is somewhere new, somewhere different. But I don't expect to encounter anything on the course that I haven't encountered anywhere else . . . they tend to be good courses over here, because they are so new. There won't be any surprises, and it is just a question of me getting my focus right."

Harrington will defend his Deutsche Bank title next week but has decided to stand by his decision not to play in the Volvo PGA at Wentworth on May 27th-30th. Instead, he will take a week off before heading to the US to play in the Buick Classic in Westchester before competing in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills on New York's Long Island.

One man going in the opposite direction will be British Open champion Ben Curtis, who has confirmed his participation in the Volvo PGA Championship. The American took up membership of the European Tour following his victory at Royal St George's last year and his participation at Wentworth raises the number of major champions in the field to an unprecedented 10: Curtis, Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, Retief Goosen, Bernhard Langer, Paul Lawrie, Sandy Lyle, José Maria Olazábal and Ian Woosnam.

Meanwhile, the European Tour has filled a gap in its schedule between the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in Detroit and the American Express Championship at Mount Juliet by announcing a new tournament, to be called The Heritage, which will take place at Woburn from September 23rd to 26th.

The event, promoted by the IMG group, will carry a purse of €2 million (with a top prize of €330,330) and is being staged in recognition of Ken Schofield's 30 years at the helm of the European Tour as executive director. Schofield is due to stand down at the end of the year, to be replaced by George O'Grady.

ORDER OF MERIT (Irish positions): 2, D Clarke €531,724; 5, P Harrington 400,254; 10, G McDowell 329,310; 24, P McGinley 235,680; 72, P Lawrie €86,777; 79, D McGrane €73,779; 107, G Murphy 47,441.

WORLD POINTS

1 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 149.81

2 DARREN CLARKE 129.92

3 Miguel Angel Jimenez 124.86

4 Fredrik Jacobson 110.84

5 Lee Westwood 86.64

6 Paul Casey 83.57

7 Brian Davis 80.65

8 Ian Poulter 79.46

9 Thomas Bjorn 76.92

10 Sergio Garcia 75.11

11 Raphael Jacquelin 71.53

12 Bernhard Langer 63.30

13 Luke Donald 59.54

14 Colin Montgomerie 56.53

15 Maarten Lafeber 55.03

16 David Howell 54.31

17 PAUL McGINLEY 54.03

18 Thomas Levet 50.16

19 Joakim Haeggman 47.82

20 Carlos Rodiles 46.52

EUROPEAN POINTS

1 Miguel Angel Jimenez 1,040,794

2 DARREN CLARKE 919,032

3 Lee Westwood 909,581

4 Fredrik Jacobson 904,729

5 Brian Davis 832,020

6 Ian Poulter 790,515

7 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 751,388

8 Raphael Jacquelin 714,549

9 Paul Casey 694,519

10 Carlos Rodiles 610,211

11 Barry Lane 553,488

12 Maarten Lafeber 535,910

13 David Howell 523,600

14 Sergio Garcia 505,147

15 PAUL McGINLEY 496,670

16 Colin Montgomerie 441,467

17 Joakim Haeggman 436,919

18 Anders Hansen 388,809

19 Thomas Levet 360,828

20 GRAEME McDOWELL 336,360