Home hero Padraig Harrington will begin his bid for an American Express - Ryder Cup double at Mount Juliet tomorrow - in the company of Tiger Woods.

The 31 year old Dubliner has been drawn with superstar Woods for the first round of the $5.5 million dollar American Express World Championship at his home club.

But offered a choice between the $1 million dollar winner's cheque here at immaculate Mount Juliet and Ryder Cup victory, Harrington opted for BOTH.

"Let's be greedy," he said with a smile. "I want to have my cake and eat it too. Why not."

"Right now I want to win the American Express Championship. Next week I want the Ryder Cup. When you turn up all you are thinking about is winning the event.

"Now there is a slight distraction with the Ryder Cup next week but the only time I will start thinking about the Belfry is if I am out of contention here."

As expected, one of the two Irishmen in the field got he plumb draw with Woods.

Harrington wasn't surprised either but he doesn't expect it to distract him from the job in hand.

He joked: "The home guy normally gets the big draw. Like Justin Rose playing with Tiger at Muirfield. It's amazing the way these things come out of a hat."

It won't be Harrington's first experience of playing with Woods.

"I've played with Tiger a few times before and to be honest it doesn't bother me. I played with him in the third round of the US Open at Bethpage and we were very much on out own games for the first couple of holes and there wasn't much chat."

Woods won that duel, shooting 70 to Harrington's 74 on his way to his eighth Major title.

"I kind of expect that I would be drawn with Tiger and it's good for me to be honest," said the world number eight. "I'd prefer to be playing with him on Sunday afternoon, usually that's a good sign but I happy to be with him on Thursday."

Woods arrived in Cork early yesterday morning and played nine holes alone - playing through three two balls on the way.

"The course is immaculate," said Woods. "As good as anywhere in the world. The greens are a lot faster than when I played here in July but it's a lot warmer now."

The field is also as good as any of the major championships with 49 of the world's top 50 in the field of 65.

"Even in the Ryder Cup you won't have so many big player," said Harrington. "It's really for the pure golf enthusiast. You're not going to get a better opportunity to see Tiger playing here competitively so it's a great opportunity."

It's also an excellent opportunity for Harrington to repay Mount Juliet as the club's touring professional by winning his first world championship event in how own back yard.

But Harrington admitted that he is almost too worried about making sure that things run smoothly than his own game.

"It's funny for me," he explained. "I'm hoping for beautiful sunny weather and that everything is perfect for the week. Being attached here and the fact that the tournament is in Ireland, in some way you want everything to go perfectly.

"I keep asking players how everything is going and I'm wishing everybody well. I'm nearly hoping the event comes out a winner more than I come out a winner this week and that's strange."

As for Woods, Harrington will be concentrating solely on his own game when he tees with up with the championship favourite at 12.40 tomorrow.

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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