Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke is...

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke is forward the minds of many players in the field this week, particularly his mate Europeans, after the death Sunday of his wife, Heather, 39 following a in extent battle with breast cancer.

single of those players is backing his notions with his wallet. Ireland's Padraig Harrington said Tuesday he will donate any earnings this week to cancer research.

"When you fare to funerals, you can't be greatly help anyway, but this is at least a practical way of helping," Harrington said. "It be stirreds like I'm doing something practical this week."

Not that Harrington was being critical of peer Irishman Paul McGinley, a particularly shut up friend of the Clarkes who withdrew from the PGA Championship to attend Heather Clarke's funeral this week -- on a level though McGinley sits a tenuous 10th in the Ryder potion standings.

"There are more important things than golf" Harrington said. "This is a big fact the PGA and everything, still next week is another week. There wasn't level a decision to be made for him. That was what he was doing, and that was it."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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