91Èȱ¬

Padraig Harrington was sitting in a hotel and passers-by were looking on with concern. His mind didn't seem in the right place. Then again why should it be? His chances of defending were hanging on the damaged fibres of a strained tendon.

This was the eve of the Championship and Harrington found himself relying on not just a golfing colleague, but a major rival.

was lending the Irishman a piece of kit that might help heal the wrist injury that had restricted the champion's pre-tournament practice to a mere nine holes.

The damage had been done the previous Sunday when Harrington had been performing strengthening exercises by swinging one-handed into an impact bag stuffed full of towels.

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was doing his pre-Ryder Cup news conference at and didn't know his skipper was standing in the back corner of the room listening to every word.

Mickelson was going through the motions, smiling away, dodging controversy and giving his usual diet of golfing cheese. At one point he suggested that if American players could win (the biennial US v non-Europe Rest of the World match) there was no reason why they couldn't do the same in Ryder Cups.

The eavesdropping captain, , muttered: "I just hate that answer." You see Azinger understands the in the way that Europeans do. He understands the history, what it means and that it provides the greatest golfing show on earth.

American teams in previous matches had seemed to miss that point. I'll never forget seeing a smiling Mickelson pushing a stricken buggy as his side were in the midst of their thrashing in 2006.

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She used to practice for hour after hour after hour and not realise she'd missed dinner; the only hunger was a desire for success. But not anymore; in recent times she would belt balls for a while but her mind would soon wander towards other jobs that needed to be done.

This is why to probably the greatest player it has ever known. It is why is playing competitively for the final time at the age of 38.

She's looking forward to getting married, to starting a family and to developing her burgeoning business interests, but all of these could have been accommodated within a continued playing career if the overwhelming was still there.

Sorenstam has acknowledged, though, is no longer what it was and so the decision to quit professional golf was a relatively simple one.

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