Harrington’s path to Arizona eases slightly

Golf:Padraig Harrington will need to climb to 65th in the world rather than 64th to earn a place in next month's Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. Phil Mickelson has said he will miss the event — the first World Golf Championship of the season — to take a family holiday, freeing up an extra space on the entry list.

Harrington’s 10th-placed finish at the Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa has lifted him only one spot from 89th to 88th in the new rankings.

The Dubliner is part of the star-studded field this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the tournament where he started with a 65 last year but then was disqualified over a ball-moving incident picked up by an eagle-eyed television viewer.

The sport’s ruling bodies saw the unfairness of the disqualification and if the same was to happen this week it would be only a two-stroke penalty.

This week sees the world top four — Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer — all play their first events in Abu Dhabi. Tiger Woods, currently 25th, will be there too.

Mark Wilson, meanwhile, overcame a shaky start to claim his fifth PGA Tour title in the Humana Challenge last night. Wilson saw a three-shot lead quickly wiped out in the final round on the Palmer Course at PGA West, a front nine of 37 allowing a host of players back into contention.

But the 37-year-old recovered his composure to play the last eight holes in four under par for a closing 69 and 24-under-par total of 264. That gave Wilson a two-shot win over fellow Americans Johnson Wagner — who won the Sony Open in Hawaii last week — John Mallinger and Robert Garrigus.

Garrigus, who had bogeyed the 17th to fall out of a tie for the lead with Wilson, had a chance to finish outright second but missed from nine feet for birdie on the last.

Wilson bogeyed the third and did not pick up his first birdie of the day until the par-five 11th. However, he then holed a bunker shot on the par-three 12th for another birdie and sealed the win as darkness closed in with further birdies on the 16th and 18th.

“I was amazed at the peace I had with the start I had,” Wilson said. “I just hung in there and it’s great to win.”