Padraig Harrington has not given up hope of regaining The European Tour's number one spot - even though he currently stands 21st in The Race To Dubai standings.
“I've got five events left to give myself a chance," said Harrington on the eve of his attempt to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title in Scotland for a third time.
“I probably need to win two and a few other things to go right, but that would be the goal at the moment."
Harrington is just over €1 million behind leader Martin Kaymer, but could almost half that by winning this week given the German golfer is out of action and currently recovering from surgery on broken toes.
Second-placed Paul Casey is unable to feature too with a rib muscle injury, but a stellar cast of Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher could make Harrington's task harder by winning and going to the top of The Race to Dubai rankings.
Harrington, however, has the memories of triumphing at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2002 and 2006 - the year he went on to capture The Order of Merit - and with fellow Irishman JP McManus as his partner again in the pro-celebrity format he stated: “This is one of my favourite tournaments of the year.
“Obviously it's one of my best opportunities of winning an event - I think the set-up really suits me well.”
Swing changes finally seem to be paying off but he has not tasted victory this season on The European Tour - and he says: “Even though I can be comfortable with what's happened I've got to make some wins in order to make this a good year.
“It was very, very productive and I would think it will make me a better player. There's some sacrifices in it, but I definitely think it's been worth it.”
