Golf World Cup: Paul Gallagheron how lowly ranked Gareth Maybin and Michael Hoey got to follow in the footsteps of Harrington and McGinley

Generally the opportunity to represent your country at a World Cup is a coveted honour, but when Padraig Harrington opted out of this year's event, Ireland's ability to simply get a team to the starting line - let alone compete - was seriously questioned. In the end Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin picked up the baton before booking their place in this week's €3.4 million event at Mission Hills in China.

It's exactly 10 years since Harrington first teamed up with Paul McGinley and won the 1997 World Cup for Ireland at Kiawah Island, 19 years after the first Irish triumph in 1958 when it was known as the Canada Cup.

Since Kiawah the Dublin pair have represented their country for a decade with Harrington, the highest Irishman in the world rankings and crucially within the top 100, always selecting his Ryder Cup team-mate as a playing partner.

This year, however, problems arose when the Open champion and current world number seven understandably withdrew due to an already congested playing schedule and family commitments. Without Harrington - and no other Irishman in the world's top 100 - it meant Ireland would have to pre-qualify as they weren't part of the 18 exempt nations.

"The whole thing was a bit mad to be honest," explained Conor Ridge from Horizon Sports Management, who became the focal point during frantic, last ditch efforts to find two players willing to pre-qualify and represent their country at such a supposedly prestigious event where the winning team share over €1.2 million.

"For years it's always been a forgone conclusion with Harrington and McGinley shoo-ins for Ireland, but after Padraig took his hat out of the ring, there was only a couple of days to register an Irish team for pre-qualifying," added Ridge, who represents a number players within Irish professional golf.

"The deadline for Malaysia had already closed, so that only left the option of Aruba in the Caribbean to qualify. The whole concept of entering a team just seemed to be floating around with nobody doing anything about it."

Graeme McDowell (currently 103rd) and McGinley (202nd) were next in the rankings but both were reluctant to commit to Aruba as it came a week before the lucrative Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. They were also waiting to see if Nick Faldo would pick them for the Seve Trophy which was taking place at The Heritage in the same week as the Aruba qualifier.

"Both decided they couldn't commit, and with Chubby (Chandler) already saying there was no chance Darren (Clarke) was going to the Caribbean to try and qualify, the options reduced even further," said Ridge, who then called Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy. "Peter was out because his wife Philippa was having a baby and Gary was just getting over a bout of pneumonia and they had spoken to Damien McGrane who already had corporate commitments."

Colm Moriarty and Stephen Browne were also ruled out as they tried to win full tour cards at the final Challenge Tour event. As a result of this exhaustive process, the honour of representing Ireland now rests with two players, ranked 533rd and 616th in the world, Maybin and Hoey respectively.

They made an 8,000-mile trip from the Kazakhstan Open to Aruba at the end of September and fired an opening 62 to lead after the first day.

They eventually carded a closing 71 for a 10-under 274 aggregate, one shot behind winners, Puerto Rico, and were one of the five nations to qualify along with the other five from the Malaysia qualifier.

The Irish Sports Council generously stepped in and covered their costs to get to Aruba, which was in the region of €5,000 per man according to Ridge. "Gareth and I played well together in qualifying and thankfully Team Ireland supported us again at the right time," noted Hoey, who won a Challenge Tour event in Italy this year but missed out on a place at the finals of Qualifying School.

"We're looking forward to another big week. There are some big names and great players playing at Mission Hills, but we can't get fazed about that," added the 28-year-old, who along with Maybin, arrived at Mission Hills on Monday to get some early practice.

"Players like myself don't always get the chance to play for such big purses. There's over €1 million up for grabs, it would be nice to get a few quid in the bank for the winter."

With a sense of irony, Hoey also took inspiration from the fact Marcel Siem played alongside Bernhard Langer and won the World Cup for Germany last year but still found himself at Q-School last week.

"It just shows you how fickle this game can be. We must believe we have as good a chance as anyone else."

Maybin recently returned home to Ballyclare to concentrate on the Challenge Tour after years living in the United States where he competed on the satellite Hooters Tour after college. He has a plan in mind for the week.

"I think the key is to attack and shoot low in the fourballs, then try to keep it simple in the foursomes," said the 27-year-old. "You also have to try and forget the big stars and the big prize money and just treat it like any other tournament."

Last week McGinley sent a personal fax to Ridge wishing the players well, to which he replied: "You can be sure the the two lads will be trying their best to replicate the efforts of Padraig and you on your 10-year anniversary. Stranger things have happened . . ."

Irish world rankings

Padraig Harrington 7

Graeme McDowell 103

Paul McGinley 202

Darren Clarke 236

Rory McIlroy 251

Peter Lawrie 280

Damien McGrane 316

Gary Murphy 366

Colm Moriarty 443

David Higgins 477

Stephen Browne 510

Gareth Maybin 533

Michael Hoey 616