• Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

Harrington disqualified in Abu Dhabi

Padraig Harrington's week turned sour with the news of his disqualification © Getty Images

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Padraig Harrington has been disqualified from the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

The Irishman showed a welcome return to form with a superb 65 in the opening round, but his effort came under scrutiny when it emerged his ball may have moved on the seventh green.

A thorough investigation concluded his ball had moved and golf's rules mean a penalty stroke cannot be handed out retrospectively as he had already signed his card.

As such, officials had no alternative but to disqualify the two-time Open champion from his first event of the year.

The incident was not spotted by the referee, but officials were alerted to it by an email from a television viewer.

Harrington has conceded the ball had moved when viewing the replay, but felt at the time that it had oscillated rather than rolled off its spot and admitted the mistake was in not calling the referee for a ruling as there would have been no penalty had he done so.

"I clearly hit the golf ball," he told Sky Sports. "I nudged it with my hand. I looked down at the time and established that on the way I line up the golf ball with the markings that it hadn't moved. I continued on. Somebody has looked at it in slow motion, because if you look at it in normal speed it looks like the ball rocks. But in slow motion it is clear that it has moved three dimples forward and then rolled back maybe one and a half.

"At the time I could not tell. If I had done anything about it at that stage there would have been no penalty. If I'd called the referee I could not in good conscience have moved the ball anywhere else as I believe that was where it was before and after I touched it."

Harrington has suffered disqualification before, at the Benson & Hedges International in 2000. He was leading after three rounds when it emerged he had failed to sign his card for the first round.

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