Open Champion Padraig Harrington, Korea’s most successful player, KJ Choi and American Chris DiMarco provide a potent international flavour to the inaugural Ballantine’s Championship at Pinx Golf Club on the picturesque Korean island of Jeju this week.
Harrington, who joined golf’s elite with his victory at Carnoustie last July, makes his third start of 2008 in the €2,000,000 tournament, sanctioned by The European Tour, Asian Tour and Korean PGA, bringing to 38 the number of destinations to have hosted events on The European Tour International Schedule.
Choi will carry the principal hopes of his countrymen as the fifth ranked player in the world – five places above Harrington – and he arrives in his homeland with a seventh US PGA Tour victory under his belt after winning the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier this year.
Harrington, who enjoyed a lengthy winter break following the birth of his second child in November, finished fifth in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and went out of the WGC-Accenture Match Play in the second round. This will be his third start on The European Tour in 2008 and the Irishman will be looking for signs that he is running into form in time for the Masters Tournament next month.
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