General / Ralph Ellis / 23 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

Golf is full of variables and ambiguities but, by sticking with the clubs with which he won two majors this season, the Open champion has one less thing to worry about, says Ralph Ellis.

It's hard for us amateurs to understand just how heavily the professionals rely on the right equipment to get excellence in their sport. But a couple of years back I heard Steve Davis on the radio - being 'interesting' for once - on that very subject

He was talking about the restrictions on taking weapons on board aircraft which meant that snooker cues were having to be put in the hold rather than travelling as hand luggage. Between witty remarks about how he might hijack a plane by threatening to roll the pilot just behind the black, he revealed that Stephen Hendry's cue - the favourite one he'd played with most of his career - had been broken by careless baggage handlers. As a result the former World champion's form had crashed for a complete year while he struggled to get used to a new one.

The story came to mind as I read Padraig Harrington's comments this morning in the Daily Mail on why he's chosen to stick with the Wilson clubs that have won him two majors this year, rather than take the massive money on offer elsewhere.

For a golf club manufacturer, knowing that the genial Irishman was out of contract this summer was a bit like a top football club learning that Cristiano Ronaldo was about to become a free agent. Even with the credit crunch, you would have to dig out the very last dime to try to sign him up. And that's certainly what the likes of Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade and Nike would have been doing.

Harrington will probably earn around £2million a year from his new Wilson contract. The Mail quotes the company's general manager Tim Clarke suggesting that rival companies were offering double that. "Thankfully with Padraig it wasn't all about the bottom dollar," he says. "Put nine out of ten players in his position and all they are interested in is who makes the highest bid."

Harrington, however, took a different view. "What happens if I have a blip in form next year?" he asked. "I didn't want to have the extra variable of wondering whether it was because of my equipment."

Other golfers have suffered exactly that syndrome. One of the rare minor dips in Tiger Woods' career came for the few months after Nike handed him a new driver. And the fact Harrington is so willing to take the long view of chasing trophies rather than sponsors' cash for his income suggests there will be more titles to come.

It also suggests he will be very focused going to Valderrama next week for the Volvo Masters which gives him a last chance to sneak past his Ryder Cup team mate Robert Karlsson. The Swede is [1.2] favourite to collect the Order of Merit as the European tour's top player at the end of next week, and only Harrington can realistically catch him if he wins the final event. He's [8.4] to sneak through and round off the best season of his career by picking up the Order of Merit. Rested and refreshed after a few weeks break in Ireland - and using his favourite clubs - you wouldn't rule him out.

Five things you might not know about Robert Karlsson

1. Born in Katrineholm, Sweden, in 1969 he had an easy introduction to golf - his dad was greenkeeper at the local course

2. He turned professional aged 20, won his qualifying card for the European tour in his first season, and has kept it since

3. He's one of the tallest golfers on tour, standing 6ft 5ins

4. At the 2006 Welsh Open he broke the tour scoring records for 36 holes and 54, shooting 124 for the first two rounds and 189 for three

5. Under the guidance of his psychologist he once fastest for two weeks - and also spent an entire night hitting ten foot putts with a friend giving verbal abuse if he missed. The idea was to learn to blot out the frustrations of tournament play.

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