PADRAIG HARRINGTON is banking on a little help from a friend and some hard work from his brother to put him on the road to a first victory of the 1997 season in Morocco this week.
Ireland's Ryder Cup hopeful will have elder brother Fintan, a 31-year-old Dublin printer at his side in place of resting bagman John O'Reilly when the Moroccan Open begins on the Royal Links at Agadir today.
Harrington will go into action this morning together with Argentinian Eduardo Romero and Spaniard Miguel Angel Martin also hoping to benefit from some short game advice from Des Smyth in Dubai last week.
"I have not been happy with my bunker play over the first six weeks of the season " admitted Harrington, so Des had a look at it with me at the Desert Classic. It wasn't so much a lesson as a run through the fundamentals. After a long spell on the road I need to see my coach Howard Bennett for a lengthy session."
Harrington has won over £43,000 during his travels to Australia, South Africa, and the Gulf, stands 10th in the Volvo ranking and has improved his Ryder Cup status from 18th to 11th. That is significant progress for the three-times Walker Cup player towards his goal of a place at Valderrama, but he must keep improving to be a member of the European team for the 1997 match.
Behind-the-scenes moves are afoot to change the qualification conditions to allow captain Seve Ballesteros more leeway in the matter of personal picks, and yesterday Sam Torrance added his considerable weight in favour of reducing the number of automatic selections.
In the Scot's view Europe should return to the system they had at the start of the 1990's when Bernard Gallacher had three wild cards and nine players qualified from the Ryder Cup table.
"It is of paramount importance that Europe win this match, and we must ensure we have our best team," he said, echoing the thoughts of Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam in Dubai last week.
"The situation has changed considerable since the start of the year. Jesper Parnevik is doing very well in the USA, Nick Faldo is a must as one choice, and now we have Jose Maria Olazabal coming back and looking strong. So I favour a 9-3 situation because we have to also stand by the European Tour."
Torrance revealed it was not only his wife, Suzanne's, indisposition that forced him to withdraw from the Desert Classic, but also an attack of gout which affected his right big toe. It means this is only his third event of the year and so far he has a nil return, having missed the cut in both Australian events in Brisbane and Perth.
"I feel relaxed and refreshed after a 66 at Sunningdale on Monday," he said but he did not relish being a losing captain yesterday when Europe lost to Africa in the Sahara Cup preamble to the £350,000 tournament.
Torrance and partner Raymond Russell were last green losers, and Europe's only winners were Harrington and Paul Broadhurst who were six under par in accounting for the Moroccan Younes El Hassani and Mohamed Makroune.
Philip Walton was not required for the eight-man European squad and contented himself with re-acquainting himself with a links that has been hastily refurbished in the last six weeks after the damage caused by winter rains.
Walton was 46th on his first appearance of the year in Dubai, but is looking for a much better return here now that he is fitter and stronger after two weeks intensive gym work in January. "I did everything," he said, "from running to weight training, and I feel much fitter for it."
Raymond Burns is cock-a-hoop after his third successive top to finish at his favourite Emirates club, where veteran Christy O'Connor Jnr surprised himself by completing all four rounds. It was his first tournament after elbow trouble for over nine months, and though he still has twinges, the former Ryder Cup star is undergoing treatment from the Tour's physiotherapy unit which is leading to daily improvement.
