Harrington battles the pain barrier

Bad news for European challenge as Irish birthday boy joins Montgomerie in the fight against injury in the run-up to the Ryder Cup.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain, Sam Torrance, will be hoping for good news this week from his father, Bob, as his team's fitness problems accumulate.

With the match against the Americans at The Belfry less than a month away, Padraig Harrington joined Colin Montgomerie on the injury list.

Finishing with a brace of bogeys in the third round of the BMW International at Nord-Eichenried near Munich was no way to celebrate his thirty-first birthday, and the Irishman admits: 'An injury to my left ankle is a worry.'

Although he is confident he will be on parade against the Americans on 27-29 September, he will see a specialist and undergo scans at a Dublin hospital this week. Then he will fly to Largs in Ayrshire to ask his golfing guru Bob Torrance to tell him whether what is going wrong on the golf course is of his own making or the result of twisting his ankle during last month's Dutch Open.

Harrington was second in Munich in 1999, and again last year, finishing a single stroke behind John Daly, who shot 65 for an 11-under-par 205 total yesterday. Harrington got it to 10 under yesterday, thanks to a pair of eagle threes, but then took four at the short 17th and six at the long 18th where his second drifted right into a water hazard.

'The more worrying shot was the pull-hook at the 17th, which finished 30 yards left of the green,' admitted the man lying third in the European money list and eighth in the world rankings after top-eight finishes in the Open, US Open and US Masters.

'My driving is fine but I must have hit 10 of my worst-ever iron shots in the last three days in Germany.

'I'm still having treatment for neck and shoulder injuries, and it might well be that the cause of the problem is the pain in my ankle. I just don't shift my weight properly.

'After having the scans I'll ask Bob to sort me out. It will probably take him about five seconds to pinpoint the problem and tell me whether it's me or the ankle to blame.

'The fact is probably I'm not transferring my weight because I'm expecting pain.'

Earlier in the week, Harrington said he believed the demands of the modern game were increasingly taking their toll as players strove for glory and gold.

'Players are working out more, and if you get right on the limit, your body will break down more often, but you should recover more quickly.

'Golf is becoming more of a power game, and players are hitting at their max most of the time. But it's the practice that's doing the damage.

'Standing four hours on the range in a certain position is causing neck, back and all sorts of injuries. The Tour physio unit is treating 70 to 80 guys a week.

'The advice is nearly always the same - rest, don't practise. At the USPGA, I practised three of four hours because I wasn't shifting my weight. That stressed my shoulder, and next day the neck went.

'The worse you play the more you play. A player struggling for his card who maybe plays 33 or 34 events might be better playing 25, but it's difficult sitting out seven tournaments you could have got into.'