Open champ Harrington fights wrist injury

(CNN) -- Open champion Padraig Harrington is battling to overcome a strained right wrist with the defense of his title scheduled to start at Royal Birkdale on Thursday.

The setback occurred as the Dubliner won the Irish PGA tournament on Saturday.

Harrington played only nine holes of practice on the links course at Southport, Lancashire, on Tuesday before being advised to rest.

He did not attempt one shot out of the rough - - and that is a major concern with the clocking ticking down to an 07.58am tee-off.

"I know I will not get through 72 holes this week without going in the rough and the biggest worry is if I do something that will flare it up and give me a problem," he said. "That will certainly be an issue."

Harrington's Australian sports chiropractor Dale Richardson inspected the wrist after his half-round and told him to take the rest of the day off.

"If it wasn't the Open I would have pulled out. I would have come for treatment and then decided I could not risk it. But because it's Open week I will definitely make the effort."

"I'm taking anti-inflammatories as it is and I will probably protect the wrist in the tournament. But I didn't today because I wanted to see how it was.

"I'm happier than I was this morning. It's inflamed, but I was pain-free for those nine holes," added Harrington who walked the inward half..

Earlier he told RTE radio that he was unsure about his fitness for the opening round of the Open.

"I could not support the weight of the club with my wrist on Saturday and Sunday. I can do that now but I don't know about hitting into the turf or the rough and that's something I can't really test," he said.

Harrington, who had a neck problem at the European Open two weeks ago, recalled that he was only able to fit one practice round before his victory at Carnoustie a year ago.

He said that Birkdale was a straightforward course. "It wouldn't be the worst course in the world to just have one practice round.

"Mentally I'm quite positive, just a bit worried about it being weak and flaring up where I can't continue to play. I think I will be teeing it up with strapping (on it), but who knows."

Harrington moved the ball out of the rough onto the fairway to hit approaches to the green, but his intention is to hit at least one shot from it on Wednesday as a test.

"This is a brand new injury - I've never had anything like this before," he added.