Dual Major winner raring to go ahead of new season
Padraig Harrington is looking forward to kicking off the new season with a good performance in the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.
The dual Major winner is one of the star attractions at the tournament that brings together winners and money-list leaders from across the globe.
It also marks the start of the new Race to Dubai, which has replaced the traditional Order of Merit and culminates with the top 60 golfers contesting the $10million Dubai World Championship next November.
And Harrington, who finished strongly to be 13th in Valderrama last weekend, believes he must be on top of his game this week in order to get off to the best possible start in the Race to Dubai.
"We have some great events which start with the HSBC Champions, which is a massive tournament in the schedule and anyone who wins this week gets a great boost in his quest to win the Race to Dubai title at the end of the year," said Harrington.
"There are a lot of big events during the year and players will have to win a certain amount of those events to be in with a chance of winning the grand prize which is the Race to Dubai. If you don't win this or something like this, you are not going to be in with a chance.
"I had a very successful year with winning the two majors in the summer. Since then I had a little bit of a down period, which often happens when you were on such a high.
"But I'm keen to get out and play, I am looking forward to this week. I know it's difficult to win on demand, but feel like I can put up a strong show.
"I am just looking for a continuation of last week. I was not quite prepared, but that means I will be more prepared for this week.
"I started poorly but played quite nicely in the last three rounds so if I can continue that I should be okay this week."
