Ireland's Padraig Harrington is suffering from a wrist injury which could prevent him from defending his Open title at Royal Birkdale this week.

Harrington sustained the injury in the course of winning the Irish PGA tournament on Saturday.

Asked if he would definitely start in Thursday's first round, Harrington said: "I'm just not sure. I don't know.

"It has improved over the last two days but I just can't be sure until I Woods could miss Open at Birkdale ...
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Harrington, who has been paired with Justin Leonard and Retief Goosen for the first two rounds, said he was particularly worried about hitting the ball out of the rough.

"I could not support the weight of the club with my wrist on Saturday and Sunday. I can do that now but I don't know about hitting into the turf or the rough and that's something I can't really test," he said.

The 36-year-old has had to restrict his practice, but insisted he would do everything possible to make sure he was able to tee off at 0758 BST on Thursday.

"I've been having treatment and I'm strongly hopeful I will be able to play," said Harrington.

"The only issue would be if I re-injured it in the rough and that's what is a little bit scary. I'm going for physio [on Tuesday] and then out to see if I can hit shots.

"If it stays stable I will play a practice round but pick the ball up in the rough. If it's not stable I will have another day off."

But Harrington drew some solace from the fact that he suffered an injury before last year's tournament at Carnoustie which also saw him miss out on practice time.

"It's not the end of the world. Birkdale is a good straightforward course. It would not be the worst course in the world to just have one practice round," he added.

"Mentally I'm quite positive, just a bit worried about it being weak and flaring up where I can't continue to play. I think I will be teeing it up with strapping (on it), but who knows."

(BBC)

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