Harrington on hold

Padraig Harrington will not discover the results of tests on his ankle and neck until the weekend. The Irish Ryder Cup player twisted his ankle during the Dutch Open in July and when he thought that problem was over he ricked his neck midway through the US PGA championship in Minneapolis last month.

Only intensive treatment on and off the course got the Dubliner through that and the following week's NEC world championship in Seattle, when the ankle trouble returned.

Keen to be fully fit for the Ryder Cup match now only three weeks away, he has been resting since, but is due to return at next week's German Masters in Cologne. So too is team-mate Colin Montgomerie, who pulled out of the NEC event after 27 holes because of a recurrence of back trouble and chose not to play in last week's BMW International Open in Munich.

It was announced yesterday that Montgomerie will compete with John Daly in China's first $1m (£645,000) tournament in November. The pair have signed up for the TCL Classic at Harbour Plaza Golf Club, Dongguan, from 14-17 November.