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Padraig Harrington favourite for Buick

Six-times champion Tiger Woods will be a conspicuous absentee at this week’s Buick Invitational where Padraig Harrington will again command the spotlight in his first appearance on the 2009 PGA Tour.

Woods has always enjoyed competing at Torrey Pines but he has not played tournament golf since his extraordinary playoff victory there at last year’s U.S. Open.

Defying sporadic knee pain, the world number one held off fellow American Rocco Mediate to clinch his 14th major title but has since been sidelined while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery.

A winner of the last four Buick Invitationals, Woods is not expected to return to competition until at least next month, leaving the door open for others to take advantage this week.

Enter world number three Harrington, the player who made the most of Woods’s absence from the golfing world in 2008 by winning the last two majors of the season.

Although the Irishman has not previously competed at the Buick Invitational, he made an impressive start to this year by tying for fifth at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship last month.

“I had no idea what my game would be like coming out,” Harrington told reporters after closing with scores of 68 and 66 in Abu Dhabi. “You don’t want to come out and mess up at all, you want to play and perform.

“Certainly, plenty of mistakes were made but I’m happy with what I saw. But I’ve got more work to do, that’s for sure.”

Known for his workaholic approach to the game, Harrington is eagerly looking forward to the April 9-12 Masters when he will be bidding for a third consecutive major victory.

“Everything at the moment is about building up for the Masters,” said the winner of last year’s British Open and PGA Championship. “I’m actually quite happy with where I’m at.”

While Woods has long been a fan of the two coastal layouts at Torrey Pines, the North and the South, compatriot Phil Mickelson’s affinity with them goes back even further.

San Diego native Mickelson, the world number four, has played both courses countless times since his childhood and has won the Buick Invitational three times.

Although he made a poor start to his 2009 PGA Tour campaign by missing the cut at last week’s Phoenix Open, the left-hander is in upbeat mood for Thursday’s opening round.

“I’m excited about San Diego,” Mickelson said during a conference call on Tuesday.

“Having those extra couple of days on the weekend, I didn’t take them off. I went and worked on my game and tried to refine what I thought was sharp heading into Phoenix but obviously wasn’t.

“I’m starting to feel much better about my game and I expect to have a good week this week,” added Mickelson, champion at Torrey Pines in 1993, 2000 and 2001.

“It’s a place that every time I come out here and play, it brings back memories of when I was with my father on the outside of the ropes looking in dreaming of playing the Tour.”

Apart from Harrington and Mickelson, world number 11 Camilo Villegas of Colombia is the only other member of the top 20 competing this week.

Other leading players at Torrey Pines include double U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa and Britain’s Luke Donald.

February 4, 2009