Pádraig back in the top 10

Pádraig Harrington is back in the world’s top 10 after finishing joint runner-up in the opening event of the US Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs.

Harrington’s closing birdie enabled him to share second place at The Barclays in New Jersey with Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Steve Stricker - all a stroke behind shock winner Heath Slocum.

Woods missed a seven-foot birdie chance after Harrington had holed from almost twice as far, then Slocum made a 21-footer which gave him victory when Stricker bogeyed the hole.

Harrington moves up from 11th to ninth in the rankings, while Slocum, the 124th seed in the 125-strong field, leaps all the way to 59th from 197th.

Latest leading positions: 1 Tiger Woods 14.53pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 7.86, 3 Paul Casey 6.53, 4 Steve Stricker 6.44, 5 Kenny Perry 6.10, 6 Henrik Stenson 5.98, 7 Sergio Garcia 5.71, 8 Geoff Ogilvy 5.41, 9 Padraig Harrington 5.41, 10 Lee Westwood 5.19, 11 Stewart Cink 5.16, 12 Martin Kaymer 4.87, 13 Jim Furyk 4.84, 14 Vijay Singh 4.70, 15 Lucas Glover 4.45, 16 Camilo Villegas 4.35, 17 Anthony Kim 4.19, 18 Ian Poulter 4.13, 19 Retief Goosen 4.10, 20 Ernie Els 4.09.

Other leading Europeans:21 Robert Karlsson, 24 Rory McIlroy, 25 Ross Fisher, 27 Luke Donald, 32 Soren Kjeldsen, 39 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 40 Alvaro Quiros, 42 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 45 Oliver Wilson, 46 Graeme McDowell, 48 Soren Hansen, 54 Justin Rose, 64 Chris Wood, 66 Francesco Molinari, 68 Anders Hansen, 69 Peter Hanson, 78 Nick Dougherty, 86 Thomas Levet, 94 Fredrik Jacobson, 95 Anthony Wall, 98 Steve Webster.