Golf

Pádraig Harrington targets reversal of fortune in Mexico

Dubliner has slipped to 353rd in the latest world rankings

Padraig Harrington finished in tied-73rd, and last, of those who made the cut at last week’s Sanderson Farms Classic in Mississippi. Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images
Padraig Harrington finished in tied-73rd, and last, of those who made the cut at last week’s Sanderson Farms Classic in Mississippi. Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images
Wed Nov 12 2014 - 19:31

The Mayakoba Classic offers a total prize fund of $6.1million, with almost $1.1million of it to the winner, but none of the world's top 50 players will be battling it out in Playa del Carmen in Mexico this week.

Pádraig Harrington, who finish in tied-73rd, and last, of those who made the cut at last week’s Sanderson Farms Classic in Mississippi, stays stateside for this week’s tournament in Mexico.

The Dubliner, who has slipped to 353rd in the latest world rankings, will be making his last appearance on the US Tour this side of Christmas.

Former US Open and Masters champion Angel Cabrera is the top ranked player in the field at 60th, while five players who have the joint lowest ranking possible of 1,547th are competing at El Camaleon.

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Defending champion Harris English is currently 66th in the world after struggling to rediscover the form which brought him a second PGA Tour title in the space of five months.

English was second in the FedEx Cup standings in the early stages of last season but drifted all the way to 32nd, therefore narrowly missing out on a place in the Tour Championship in Atlanta for the second year running.

“Last year I didn’t finish the way I wanted to,” English told a pre-tournament press conference.

“Obviously I was in the driver’s seat to make it to the Tour Championship (open to the top 30 players after the BMW Championship) and missed out again. I finished 31st two years ago and 32nd this past season. It’s close. I know I’m kind of knocking on the door.

“I don’t want to be in that situation again where I’m not having to pull against people but knowing my fate is in other peoples’ hands about getting to the Tour Championship. I don’t want that to happen.

“I want to control my own destiny and it’s really made me realise how important every tournament is.”

English has missed the cut in two of his first three events of the 2014-15 season, but did finish 16th in the Shriners Hospitals for Childrens Open in Las Vegas.

“I don’t want to panic,” he added. “In this game you can be so close sometimes. It’s a brutal game. It’ll knock you down when you’re at the highest of the high and it’ll do some unexpected things – when nothing’s going your way you’ll do something crazy. You’ve just got to let it come to you.

“It’s getting a lot better. I’ve been working hard the past couple weeks, couple months and it’s coming together.

“I know it’s not perfect right now. It’ll never be perfect but I’m feeling good. If I can keep getting better and better every day and keep giving myself opportunities, then it’ll click.”