Harrington and McGinley are good friends off the course

The two Dubliners occupy the last two places in the Ryder Cup standings going into this final qualification event.

Next month's Ryder Cup is the first on Irish soil and home fans will be desperate for the pair to be involved.

Lee Westwood, meanwhile, will tee off on Thursday despite still suffering from the virus he caught last week.

The Englishman was forced to pull out of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio on Sunday and has also withdrawn from Wednesday's pro-am in Munich.

I am far from 100% fit, but aim to start and see how it goes Lee Westwood

But his eagerness to give his claims for a Ryder Cup wildcard one final push means he remains in the tournament.

The former European number one, unable to qualify automatically now, said: "I am extremely keen to show (Ryder Cup captain) Ian Woosnam that I deserve a place.

"I am far from 100% fit, but aim to start and see how it goes."

Woosnam, in fact, will be playing on Thursday and Friday with two definite members of his side, Luke Donald and defending champion David Howell.

But it is unlikely the Welshman will be able to concentrate on his own game in Munich with so many Ryder Cup issues at stake.

For example, if Harrington misses the halfway cut McGinley can go past his friend on the table by finishing in the top six.

Harrington would be out of the top 10 if either England's Paul Broadhurst or Swede Johan Edfors takes the title.

But if McGinley misses the cut Harrington could save him by denying John Bickerton the win he would need to climb into the side or Broadhurst and Edfors the second place they require.

It's going to be a dogfight - but the positive thing is that I've come through two of them before Paul McGinley

McGinley, who holed the winning putt in 2002 and was unbeaten in Detroit two years ago, had hoped to avoid any late qualification drama this time - he had it in 2001 and 2004.

He was fourth in the table after his Volvo Masters win last October but has had only one top-10 finish since January.

"I'm lucky still to be in the team at this point the way I've played," said the 39-year-old McGinley.

"Look at most guys and they have had three or four big weeks. I haven't. There has not been a purple patch."

He did have knee surgery in May and missed the lucrative BMW Championship at Wentworth a year after finishing second there, but McGinley admits he only has himself to blame for being in this position again.

"It's going to be a dogfight. But the positive thing is that I've come through two of them before," he said.

Broadhurst will play alongside Nick Faldo and Graeme McDowell, Edfors has been grouped with Simon Dyson and Bernhard Langer while Bickerton will line up with former Open champion Paul Lawrie and Kenneth Ferrie.

Jose Maria Olazabal's place is also in danger as the Spaniard has chosen not to play in Munich in order to rest.

The 36th Ryder Cup takes place at the K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland, from 22-24 September.

Starting at hole 1
0730 Richard McEvoy, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), David Dixon
0740 Sam Little, Ross Fisher, Massimo Scarpa (Ita)
0750 Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Tino Schuster (Ger), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
0800 Andrew Oldcorn, Gary Emerson, Cesar Monasterio (Arg)
0810 Tom Whitehouse, David Higgins, Michele Reale (Ita)
0820 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Alastair Forsyth, Marc Cayeux (Zim)
0830 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Jamie Donaldson, Richard Finch
0840 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Peter Gustafsson (Swe), Jamie Spence
0850 Jonathan Lomas, Sandy Lyle, Mikael Lundberg (Swe)
0900 Philip Golding, Stephen Gallacher, Joakim Backstrom (Swe)
0910 Marc Farry (Fra), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Simon Wakefield
0920 Andrew Marshall, Jorge Benedetti (Col), Wolfgang Huget (Ger)
0930 Richard Treis (Ger), Christoph Gunther (Ger), David Park
1230 Mark Foster, Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Gary Evans
1240 Ralf Geilenberg (Ger), Richard Bland, Mark Roe
1250 Andrew Coltart, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Markus Brier (Aut)
1300 Robert Coles, Stuart Little, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
1310 Simon Khan, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Alejandro Canizares (Spa)
1320 Phillip Archer, Anthony Wall, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra)
1330 Nick Faldo, Paul Broadhurst, Graeme McDowell
1340 John Daly (USA), Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson (Swe)
1350 Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Retief Goosen (Rsa)
1400 Peter Hanson (Swe), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Charles Warren (USA)
1410 Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Bradley Dredge, Sven Struver (Ger)
1420 Fredrik Widmark (Swe), Fredrik Henge (Swe), David Drysdale
1430 Michael Kirk (USA), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Sebastian Buhl (Ger)