GOLF: If most of Padraig Harrington's personal goals remain secretly tapped into his laptop computer, there are some that he has shared with us and which remain attainable this season.

Although this season's four majors have slipped away - and three top-10 finishes in those championships provide evidence of his upwardly mobile behaviour in the great scheme of things - the challenge of finishing as Europe's number one is very much achievable, particularly after his win in the Dunhill Links.

Now up to a career high sixth in the world rankings, just one place behind the best-ranked European, Sergio Garcia, and seven ahead of the next-best, Colin Montgomerie, Harrington can head into the defining weeks of the European Tour's Order of Merit race with some confidence. Currently third, just €54,029 behind the leader, Retief Goosen, Harrington is now the South African's chief pursuer because Ernie Els, currently second, has completed his scheduled tournaments in Europe.

As things stand, there is also the likelihood that Harrington may even re-jig his schedule, possibly adding the Italian Open to his itinerary. He is due to play next week's world matchplay at Wentworth - a non-counting event on the money list - and then the Madrid Open at Club de Campo, a venue where he won his first tour event - the Spanish Open - in 1996.

"I'm not going to be able to make that much money by just turning up and making the cuts. It's a question of having some good performances between now and the end of the year," insisted Harrington.

In the end, though, it is all likely to come down to the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama on November 7th-10th, an event which will have more prizemoney than the Italian and Madrid Opens combined. Ironically, two of the season's final three tournaments will see both Goosen and Harrington defending titles - the Madrid Open in Goosen's case, the Volvo Masters in Harrington's.

"I would put winning the Order of Merit well up there in terms of my ambitions. Not at the top, just below the majors. If you have a very successful career it is something you want on your CV. For me it would be just below a major, so it is very important," insisted Harrington.

After a season of near misses, however, Harrington - whisked home to Dublin on Sunday night in the private jet of his amateur playing partner JP McManus - is glad to have won again.

"It's important to me, to win. I'm in contention a lot and I ask myself questions if I don't win. This win will give me more confidence."

Another target is to win the stroke average in the Reuters performance data.

"The Order of Merit is far more important than the stroke average, but it is one of those sundry things you can be proud of if you win," said Harrington, who topped the stroke average in Europe last year. In this statistical category, which all the professionals want to win, Harrington's stroke average is 69.70, compared to 70.07 for Els, his closest challenger.

Indeed, the vanquished Eduardo Romero, who lost in a play-off to Harrington on the second tie hole on Sunday, is in no doubt that the Irishman's best has yet to come. "He's a really good, tough competitor who is going to get even bigger in the game," he said.

After Harrington's season in Europe finishes, there is still the matter of a number of foreign engagements, including the Tiger Woods-promoted Williams Challenge in the United States and the following week's World Cup of Golf in Mexico, on December 12th-15th, when Harrington will be partnered by Paul McGinley for a sixth successive year. Woods is not playing in the event, and the Americans - the top seeds - will be represented by Phil Mickelson and David Toms.

In a change of qualifying criteria this year, teams are made up of the top two available players from the world rankings. If past criteria were used, then Harrington's partner would have been rookie professional Graeme McDowell, who is currently ahead of McGinley in the Order of Merit. Ireland, incidentally, are the third seeds for the event.

The highest ranked available players representing 18 countries automatically qualified for the event. They were joined in the field by the host country, Mexico. The remaining five teams in the field will be determined this week with the top three finishers at the Davidoff Nations Cup tournament to be held at the Palm Resort in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and the top two teams from the Nations Cup at Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, earning places in the tournament.

Darren Clarke, ranked number 22 in the world, who opted not to play on the Ireland team - keeping the Harrington-McGinley partnership intact - has decided to take the next three weeks off, although he is still sore about not getting an invitation into next week's Cisco world matchplay.

"I'm taking three weeks off, as I am obviously not good enough to play in the matchplay," he said. "I may even extend the break to four weeks, and miss the Italian Open as well. I haven't made my decision on that one yet." It means that Clarke's next appearance on the circuit could well be the Volvo Masters.

Paul McGinley, meanwhile, has decided to play in this week's Lancome Trophy, where the Irish contingent will be completed by Des Smyth and McDowell.