Vivendi Cup offers opportunity for Harrington to prove himself

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In order to be ready for the Ryder Cup in Wales, Padraig Harrington is teeing it up at the Vivendi Cup in Paris.

There have been question marks on either side of the Atlantic about the strength of the European Ryder Cup team.

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Should a player as high in the world rankings as Paul Casey be left out of the 12? Should a player like Justin Rose, who has won twice this year on the PGA TOUR, also be sidelined? Is the selection process at fault?

Inevitably, turning such queries around leads to the presumption that maybe Peter Hanson, Edoardo Molinari or Miguel Angel Jimenez, for instance, are weaker links.

All three have recently won to prove their worth. Hanson traveled to the Czech Open, having to win to get into the Cup team. He did just that.

Molinari felt second place at Gleneagles would not have been good enough. Three consecutive birdies to finish snatched the Johnnie Walker Championship, earning huge praise and a selection from Colin Montgomerie.

Jimenez had been due to attend his nephew's wedding after the Czech Open, but went to Scotland to secure his place on the team. He did enough, and then he did more by winning in Crans-sur-Sierre.

He's since kept in the groove in Austria where Graeme McDowell reckons it was "mission accomplished" by finishing tied third after a month away from the game after the PGA Championship.

So what about Padraig Harrington?

No one can question his career achievements, but there have certainly been doubts about his inclusion in Europe's 12. He's playing the Vivendi Cup in Paris, looking to provide some answers to the doubters and to be ready to go.

Much of the criticism has centered on the fact that aside from the 2009 Irish PGA, Harrington hasn't won since his two majors in 2008. He argues that there has been an improved consistency about his form this year. There have been top-10s at two World Golf Championships, as well as at the Transitions Championship, Travelers Championship, BMW PGA and 3 Irish Open.

No one is saying Harrington has to win in France, but everyone will be looking for signs that his form is on the up ahead of Celtic Manor.

THE VIVENDI TROPHY pitted teams from Great Britain & Ireland against Continental Europe last year in a Ryder Cup format. The sponsors wanted to continue their involvement, and hence this year's Cup with two-man teams. It's a pro-am, and in part a pro-celebrity event.

Harrington plays with his brother Fergal over the two courses at Golf de Joyenval.

Raphael Jacquelin may well be part of the best team, though. He has the French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget as a partner. France has just cruised into the tennis team final, and Jacquelin's been in fine form on the European Tour, so he's hoping for a double of sorts.

"I think he's better at golf than I am at tennis," said Jacquelin, who's relishing playing a different format rather than stroke play every week.

IT WAS BACK IN 2007 when Jacquelin last won on the European Tour. Ditto for Jose Manuel Lara. But while the Frenchman has been a regular contender in the interim, the Spaniard has been a stranger to leaderboards.

Foot injuries troubled him, but it's been a more basic loss of form and confidence which saw him struggle recently. He had missed nine consecutive cuts prior to an out-of-the-blue fourth place at the KLM Open in Holland.

"It's been more than tough," Lara said. "By far the worst part of my career, maybe my life, the last two years. I've got some white hair now."

But now he's a winner once again, having claimed the Austrian Open. "Confidence" is the main reason, he said, for his upturn.

Prior to his victory, fellow Spaniards had been looking to make early flight bookings for events in the Middle East. But Lara had to tell them to forget him, because there was no guarantee he'd have any playing rights for next season.

Jimenez, along with Pablo Larrazabal and others, showered the popular Lara with champagne at Atzenbrugg, and they now know he'll join them for the Desert Swing, and maybe even get to Dubai for the season-ending World Championship.

WHAT DO GOLF and pool have in common? Not a lot, you might immediately assume.

I certainly didn't expect to be discussing the merits of American pool when questioning Finland's Mikko Ilonen about a good round. But he mentioned one hole where he was "snookered" by bad positioning on the green. I asked whether he ever played the game.

"Every now on then," he replied. "But I'm more of a pool player."

Ilonen thinks golf and pool have similarities. "You have to keep clam and have a steady hand," he said. "Seeing the breaks on the green is very similar to when you're cutting the ball into the corner pocket or something."