No professional golfer likes to benefit from the misfortune of another, but there is no doubt that Padraig Harrington's prospects of a Ryder Cup debut in September have been considerably enhanced by news from Spain yesterday. Miguel Angel Martin has undergone surgery on a broken wrist, and will not play again in the Ryder Cup qualifying programme. Indeed he will be in plaster for three weeks and will be convalescing for a further 21 days. Although it is not impossible for him to be fit to resume playing by the time Europe meet the US at Valderrama, Spain, it looks improbable, as do his chances of being one of the 10 automatic qualifiers.

Martin has ended his personal campaign in eighth place in the table with 324,400 points, but is only 42,050 ahead of Harrington in 11th place , and only 57,656 in front of 12th man Jose Maria Olazabal.

If Martin remains a qualifier and cannot play, his place will be taken by the next man down the table. Harrington and the 10th man, another Spaniard Ignacio Garrido, should both go past Martin in the remaining four qualifying events, especially as both have been given a late invitation to the US PGA Championship at Winged Foot.

Almost £1.5 million sterling prize money is on offer there, and together with this week's £800,000 in the Chemapol Czech Open on Prague's Karlstein course, there could be significant chances in the Ryder table before the contenders arrived at the K Club for the penultimate event, the European Open.

Harrington, fresh from his fifth place in last week's Volvo Scandinavian Masters, said yesterday: "Getting into the US PGA is a big bonus for me and a huge advantage in the Ryder Cup qualifying. But it does mean that I shall be pretty tired at the end of the month.

"I am committed to the European Open, and whatever happens until then, I am pretty sure I am going to have to play in the BMW Open when the team is finalised. I think this particular competition is going to go right down to the wire."

Two players who have no cause for concern in that respect are Darren Clarke who is second in the table to Colin Montgomerie with over 594,000 points, and the German Bernhard Langer, who secured his place with back-to-back victories in the Italian Open and Benson and Hedges International has decided to stay on in the US after the final major of the year and compete in the World Series.

"Five of the top six in the world are playing there and I do not often get the chance to play at such a high level," he said. "So I shall not be coming back for the European Open."

Langer will start favourite in Prague, but Czech sentiment will be with their most famous sportsman Ivan Lendl. The former tennis world number one, shot rounds of 82 and 76 on his debut as a golf professional at Marianske Lazne last year. "I am playing better this year," said the 37-yearold, so my ambition is to make the halfway cut. For that I would be very happy."

Lendl, a left hander, added: "I think I'm five shots better than last year but this is a much tougher course than Marianske Lazne. Here you can lose a ball in the deep rough unless you stand on it.

"I shot par round here two months ago but then there was no rough. I would be very happy if I could make the cut."