UK, Oct 09: Sergio Garcia will tee off in the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama next month with an outside chance of topping this year's European Order of Merit. The Spaniard is sixth on the money list and trails leader Retief Goosen by 934,417 euros (£584,010).
And Garcia's decision to play in Spain, announced by the European Tour on Tuesday, could set up a thrilling finish to the season.
There are four European Tour events left this year, starting with Garcia's defence of his Trophee Lancome title in Paris this week.
Open championship winner Els, though, has hung up his clubs for the season after his wife gave birth to their second child on Sunday.
But the rest of the top six know that a first prize of 533,328 euros at Valderrama in the second week of November could well decide the Order of Merit battle.
The 31-year-old Harrington, though, who ended a one-year victory drought with his play-off triumph at St Andrews, is the most likely to challenge Goosen.
Harrington, like Goosen and Els, is not competing in France but should play in the last three events of the season - the Madrid Open, the Italian Open and the Volvo Masters.
Goosen last year became the first non-European to claim the European Order of Merit title since Australia's Greg Norman in 1982.
Bureau Report