Harrington's round the world odyssey
Cash machine Padraig Harrington is preparing a massive €22 million world tour tour to finish off his season in style.
The in-form Dubliner plans to rack up the money with lucrative visits to Spain, China, Japan, South Africa, Babados and the United States between now and Christmas.
And while he has already won €2.6 million this season, Harrington could theoretically trouser another €5 million from a string of Christmas stocking stuffer events over the next nine weeks.
The Order of Merit is top of his agenda but following next week's Mallorca Classic and the season-ending Volvo Masters Harrington will pack his bags and head to Shanghai for a meeting with Tiger Woods in the HSBC Champions Tournament.
But his 36,000 mile odyssey will not stop there as he then plays the Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan, the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge in South Africa and the World Cup with Paul McGinley in Barbados before finishing for the year with an appearance in Woods' Target World Challenge in Los Angeles.
The purses for the seven events total a mouth-watering €22 million with the amalgamated first prizes worth a staggering €4.93 million.
The winner of the Volvo Masters and HSBC Champions Tournament will take home over €660,000 each with a cool €1 million for the winners of the Nedbank Challenge and the Target World Challenge.
Harrington is in a rich vein of form following his five-shot win in the Dunhill Links Championship and is clearly determined to win the race to be European No 1 before going round the world in 40 days.
He said: "I've got some very positive things gonig. Since BMW and even the week before at Bridgestone I've started shooting some low numbers. Every week even if I haven't held it together all four days, I've been in contention and back shooting some low scores.
"I'd been bemoaning at the start of the year that I'd been shooting 69 and 70 without going as low as 66 or 65. I'd terrible problems at the start of the year with the putting.
"It's not that I was putting badly, I just wasn't holing putts, full stop. I was playing the sort of golf that was too steady but since then I've been getting the short game, the putting and the mental side all together and it's really worked out well."
Harrington struggled to get results earlier this season, playing moderately until he finished fifth in the US Open and followed up with two second place finishes in a row to seal his Ryder Cup place.
His play-off defeat in the BMW International Open was a sing that he was close to his best again and he proved it at St Andrews by winning by the widest margin of his career.
He added: "I still swung the club the best I have ever in the first three months of this year in the States. Up to the Masters, I hit the golf ball the best I ever have - I really, really played well.
"Since then, the next three months I was really getting my short game back together again. The last three months I've been building- up my mental game on top of my short game and on top of my swing. So it's taken me nine months out of this year to get my game to the point where I am getting the most out of it. That's me, isn't it."
With the Order of Merit race still alive, Harrington will not be lacking motivation over the next two weeks in Spain.> And given his form, he will be relishing some fascinating head-to- head battles with the best in the world over the next two months as well as the chance to win for the first time in Africa or Japan.
Woods will cross his path three times starting with the European Tour's 2007 season curtain raiser in Shanghai from 9-12 November.
The pair will meet again in the following week's Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan - the richest event on the Japanese Tour - before wishing each other a Happy Christmas in Tiger's Target World Challenge late in December.
Before that Harrington will prepare to partner Paul McGinley for the 11th time in a row at the Barbados World Cup by heading to Sun City for a possible €1 million pay day in the Nedbank Challenge.
Formerly known as the Million Dollar Challange, Harrington is guaranteed at least $200,000 for finishing last in the 12-man event at the Gary Player Country Club.
Old adversary Jim Furyk will be defending the title with Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Trevor Immelman, David Howell, Chris DiMarco, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and Charl Schwartzel making up the rest of the field.
Harrington's end of season bonanza
Event - Purse - Winner's share
October 19-22 October Mallorca Classic (Purse €1.75 million, €291,660)
October 26-29 Volvo Masters (€4 million, €666,660)
November 9-12 HSBC Champions Tournament (€4 million, €660,000)
November 16-19 Dunlop Phoenix Japan (€1.3 million €266,615)
Nov 30 - Dec 3 Nedbank Challenge (€3.5 million, €952,456)
Dec 7-10 WGC - Barbados World Cup (€3.17 million, €1.11 million per team)
Dec 11-17 Target World Challenge (€4.36, €1 million)
Total €22 million (€4.93 million) Round trip - 36,600 miles