PADRAIG HARRINGTON, one of Europe’s leading hopes to break a six-year run without a victory in the Open Championship, withdrew from the tournament at St Andrews last night after the death of his father at home in Dublin.

Paddy Harrington, a former policeman and a well-known figure in his home town, had been ill since February when throat cancer was diagonised again, having been first advised that he had the disease three years ago.

There may be something of a blessing in the way the end has come, for Harrington senior — a keen golfer and an outstanding Gaelic footballer — had been clinging bravely to life for some time and whenever Padraig made trips away, he was ringing home several times each day for further news.

The funeral is to take place in Dublin on Thursday, the day that Harrington, ranked No 9 in the world, was due to compete in the first round of the Open, alongside Chris DiMarco and Nick Price.

Henrik Stenson, ranked No 79 in the world, was expected to be the player called up to replace Harrington. Stenson, 29, a Swede, won the 2001 Benson and Hedges International Open and The Heritage tournament at Woburn last year.

The Harringtons are a large family and a very close one, and they bore the unhappiness with dignity. Padraig tried to do his job as a professional golfer to the best of his ability, but it was obviously hard for him. Since the news of his father’s illness had become public in February, Harrington had to deal with dozens of questions from well-meaning journalists. He had considered not playing in the Masters, the first major of the year, but decided that his father’s condition was satisfactory enough to compete.

“I’ve had the best possible background for playing golf, for playing all sports. I am not under pressure at all because of him,” Harrington said on the eve of the US Open at Pinehurst last month. “I am not playing for him. He never tried to live his life through me.

“He would be happy if I won, but I am taking a professional view about it. I am here and I have got to play golf. On the course, I do the job regardless of the pressure and distractions on the course, but outside golf I spent a lot of time thinking.”

Harrington returned to Dublin after winning the Ford Championship in Doral, outside Miami, at the end of February in time to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Hardly had he got home than he had to run his father to hospital for tests and he was soon told that his father’s illness had returned.

He tried to balance his duties as a professional with those of a caring son and when he won the Barclays Classic at Westchester, New York State, three weeks ago — beating Jim Furyk by holing an outrageously long putt for an eagle three on the 72nd hole — it seemed as though he was being successful in one of these two key areas, even if there was little or nothing he could do in the other.

Harrington had been due to fly to Scotland this morning to begin his final preparations for the Open, an event in which his best finish was joint-fifth in 2002. Ronan Flood, Harrington’s caddie, had got to St Andrews on Sunday night and spent half of yesterday walking the course and noting the relevant measurements.

“Padraig is arriving tomorrow morning and we will have a practice round then,” Flood said yesterday afternoon, after he had completed his reconnaissance of the Old Course in its new lengthened guise.

As Harrington was having to deal with the illness of his father, Darren Clarke, from Northern Ireland, Harrington’s Europe Ryder Cup team-mate and good friend, was having to face up to an almost identical situation in that Heather, his wife, was fighting cancer for the second time.