Padraig Harrington took his August earnings to a cool $1.3m at The Barclays and set his sights on a $10m FedEx Cup delivery.

The Dubliner continued his amazing turnaround in form when he snatched a share of second place behind shock winner Heath Slocum in the first event of the PGA Tour’s megabucks play-off series.

Sunday’s tie for second with Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Steve Stricker was the 33rd runner-up finish of Harrington’s career, boosting him from 66th to 14th in the FedEx Cup points race.

Rory McIlroy has set his sights on a double top in the Alps this week.

The Ulster hotshot can head the Race to Dubai and the European Ryder Cup Points list by picking up the €333,330 top prize in the Omega European Masters at Crans-Sur-Sierre.

The Swiss event signals the start of the race to make Colin Montgomerie's 2010 Ryder Cup side.

But McIlroy can steal a march on his absentee Race to Dubai rivals and make up for last season's agonising play-off loss by grabbing his second tour win in Switzerland.

The R&A has confirmed the Great Britain and Ireland team to face the USA at The Walker Cup 2009, to be played at Merion, Pennsylvania, USA on 12 & 13 September.

“We have picked a strong team for what will undoubtedly be a tough match,” explained GB&I Captain, Colin Dalgleish. “Each player selected has demonstrated their ability to perform at the very highest levels of the amateur game, but, crucially, they have also bonded extremely well.

“I’m convinced that we go to Merion as a tight-knit team with the combination of experience and talent necessary to give ourselves every chance of returning with the trophy.” 

Gary Murphy and Jonny Caldwell failed to make the big move they needed to ease their card worries at Gleneagles.

As Peter Hedblom captured the Johnnie Walker Championships by a shot, Murphy closed with a 69 to finish tied 16th with Caldwell’s 73 relegating him to tied 31st.

Ranked 156th in the Race to Dubai starting the week, Murphy moved up just six places to 150th after earning a cheque for €21,861.

The top 115 at the end of the season retain their cards and as things stand, the Kilkenny man is €63,223 behind 115th ranked James Kingston.

Will Padraig Harrington win another PGA Tour title before he turns 38?

Entering tonight’s final round of The Barclays at Liberty National, the Dubliner is just five strokes adrift of leaders Paul Goydos and Steve Marino after a sensational finish to his third round.

Rookie Jonny Caldwell can save his European Tour card after a sensational six under 66 left him tied for second at the halfway stage in the Johnnie Walker Championships at Gleneagles.

Ranked 280th in the Race to Dubai, he knows that a win would give up a two year exemption while a second place finish would earn him enough to sneak closer to the top 115 who retain their cards.

“It’s been a long time coming but I have played pretty decent for the last couple of months and it is all starting to fall into place,” said the Ulsterman

England won the Raymond Trophy - Ireland got the wooden spoon. Could it have been worse?

The Home Internationals ended with a stirring Irish rearguard action on Friday but losing 12-3 to Scotland was still the end result.

Ireland lost the foursomes 4-1 and seven of the ten singles with Dara Lernihan the only player to grab a win. Pat Murray and Connor Doran took halves but the Scots were simply too strong.

After all the moaning and whining and smart alec comments about Liberty National, Padraig Harrington nailed his colours to the mast on Friday.

Okay, he shot a four over par 75 in driving rain to slip back to level par in The Barclays, the first of four FedEx Cup play-off events.

The Tom Kite - Bob Cupp design has been getting it in the neck this week with Tiger Woods reported to have told his pro-am playing partners: “Maybe Tom did this course before his eye operation.”

 Cue Harrington with this:

"This is a phenomenal golf course. I think this is good enough for a major.

With leader Martin Kaymer crocked for six weeks following a karting accident and Paul Casey struggling with a rib injury, third placed Rory McIlroy is the new favourite for the Race to Dubai.

Just don't tell Lee Westwood, Geoff Ogilvy or Ross Fisher, who are breathing down the Ulsterman's neck.

Westwood and Fisher will certainly take some beating coming down the stretch, which should make it interesting when Rory teams up with his Dad in the Dunhill Links later this season.

Padraig Harrington's opening 67 in The Barclays was his only his fourth bogey free round of the year. Can he turn this one into a win?

In January's Abu Dhabi Championship he began with an error-free 68 but finished tied fifth. In the WGC-CA Championship at Doral and the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, he had to settle for 20th and tied second.

For the second successive day, Ireland failed to spark in the singles and crashed to a 9.5 - 5.5 defeat to leave England on the verge of victory in the Home Internationals at Hillside.

Leading 3.5 to 1.5 at lunch, Kevin Flanagan's charges were crushed 8-2 in the singles with Alan Dunbar the only player capable of getting a win.

Whoops. Ireland snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when they went down 8-7 to underdogs Wales on the opening day of the Home International Matches at wet and windy Hillside.

Simon WardEngland had a flattering 9.5 - 5.5 win over Scotland.

Kevin Flanagan’s defending champions led 3-2 after the morning foursomes but lost the singles 4-6 and must now beat England on Thursday to have any chance of retaining the Raymond Trophy.

Padraig Harrington has become the butt of some practical jokes after racking up two nightmare visits to water in recent weeks.

The Dubliner blew chances to win the Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA when he clocked up eights in the final rounds - a triple bogey on the 17th at Firestone and a quintuple bogey on the par-three eighth at Hazeltine National.

Addressing America's top Irish-American business leaders at New York Yacht Club this week, Harrington said: "I came to disaster twice in the water hazard. When I got home I got a voicemail with the theme tune to 'Jaws' on it.

Padraig Harrington is raving about the New Jersey venue for this week’s Barclays. In other words, expect a tough test in the short game department.

The Dubliner loves the challenge at Liberty National, which was built on a former landfill for a staggering $129m (€90m). Tony Soprano will, no doubt, be happy.

While the views of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty are stunning, it would appear that some of PGA Tour superstars are not happy that it’s so tight and punishing with severely sloping greens exposed to the winds blasting across New York harbour.

At least two members of the Irish team have a point to prove when Dr Kevin Flanagan’s side defends the Raymond Trophy in the Home Internationals at Hillside.

Alan Dunbar and Paul Cutler were bitterly disappointed to be left out of the GB&I Walker Cup side to face the USA next month. It will be interesting to see how they react when Ireland takes on the old enemy, England.

Rory McIlroy has been busy moving into his €2m plus home near Belfast following his third place finish in the US PGA.

He's also managed to slice open a finger, as he explained in his blog:

I haven’t done much on the golf front of late because in the process of moving houseI managed to slice a chunk out of my finger, third one on the left hand. I was getting my keys out of my pocket to slice open a box but sliced my finger instead! Anyway the good news is that it’s healing well and I’ve been out practicing today and it feels fine.

Padraig Harrington will need Lady Luck on his side when he tees it up in this week’s FedEx Cup playoffs in New York.

After crazy eights smashed his hopes winning the Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA two weeks on the spin, the Dubliner needs a change of fortune if he is to make a mint in the $7.5m Barclays.

Just for now, he’ll have to settle for Lady Liberty as he takes on Tiger Woods under the gaze of the most

Peter Lawrie has over half a million reasons to be happy with his season despite his sudden-death Dutch Open reverse.

The Dubliner, 35, had victory snatched from his grasp in the KLM Open when he faltered at the finish and Simon Dyson jumped in to take the title after a three-way play-off.

Looks like a little piece of Ireland has been transported to the Netherlands, where defending champion Darren Clarke shares the halfway lead in the KLM Dutch Open after a second round 67.

The links at Kennemer has a true Irish feel with four Irishmen in the top 10.

For a while it looked certain that Peter Lawrie would lead the way when he roared to the top on 10 under par before a bogey the seventh, his 16th, and a three-putt double bogey six at the ninth forced him to settle for a 68 that relegated him to a share of seventh place on seven-under.

Ireland's Danielle McVeigh claimed the biggest win of her career with a one stroke victory in the Ladies' British Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Royal Aberdeen.

The Royal County Down international, 21, was five strokes adrift of England's Hannah Turland with eight holes to play but closed with a four over 76 as her rival collapsed to an 81.

What was the world's most successful management company at this year's majors?

Major menWas it IMG, home to players like Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington? No.

What about ISM, who look after the affairs of Lee Westwood and Ernie Els? Not them either.

Take a bow Dublin based Horizon Sports Management, which poached Ross Fisher from IMG at the start of this year and Graeme McDowell from ISM two years ago.

Of the 12 players to make the cut in all four majors this year, Fisher and McDowell finished first and tied second respectively.

Paul McGinley. Remember him? He's one of the top candidates for the 2014 European Ryder Cup captaincy. He'll take his first step down that road at the end of next month when he captains the Great Britain and Ireland side against Continental Europe in the Vivendi Trophy (the new name for the Seve Trophy).

Pádraig Harrington wasn’t punching holes in any walls or smashing any clubs - not even the offending six iron he used to rack up that horrific eight on the shortest par three at Hazeltine National.

Padraig Harrington changes his shoes minutes after the final round at Hazeltine.The US PGA championship was over and as YE Yang paraded the Wanamaker Trophy through the clubhouse and Tiger Woods licked his wounds in the locker room, Harrington reflected on what many would consider to be a crushing disappointment.

“Jaysus lads, it’s not a wake,” he said, scanning the gloomy faces who’d sought him out in the sanctuary of the club’s caddie shack. “I don’t mind. I’m really only interested in winning and I didn’t win, that’s it.