SURREY, England (PA) -- Padraig Harrington's failure to survive the halfway cut at the Irish Open has not changed his mind about skipping this week's BMW PGA Championship.

The reigning British Open and PGA champion could have asked for a late invitation to the European Tour's flagship event, but having had the question put to him by an Irish reporter he sent a text message reply: "No -- happy with schedule."

Harrington, who has been working on swing changes despite winning back-to-back majors last season, has not had a top-10 finish since January. He also had 10 successive rounds of par or worse prior to a 68 on Friday that still did not qualify him for the final two rounds at County Louth.

The Dubliner admits he feels pressure to play at Wentworth because of its importance to the Tour, but he has had only one top-10 finish in 10 appearances there.

The much-criticized greens on the West Course are due to be dug up after this week's championship, and Harrington, who also stayed away in 2003, 2004 and last May, said on Wednesday: "Hopefully next year, if they do make the changes, I'll change my schedule to make sure it fits."

Harrington's next tournament is the Memorial in Ohio from June 4-7, followed by the St Jude Classic in Memphis and then the U.S. Open in New York.

ELS TO MISS EUROPEAN OPEN: Ernie Els has changed his mind about playing the upcoming European Open at the London Club in Kent.

At the start of the month it was announced that the former British Open and U.S. Open champion would be competing in the event for the first time in 15 years. But a spokesman for Els' management company confirmed on Saturday that he had pulled out.

"It is nothing sinister and purely a scheduling thing," said Martin Hardy. "Ernie occasionally gets a few twinges in his knee and looked at his preparations for the U.S. Open."

The 39-year-old South African will play in this week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth -- the course he has re-designed and where he has won a record seven World Match Play titles -- before returning to the United States for the Memorial in Ohio on June 4-7.

That comes two weeks before the second major of the year at Bethpage Black on New York's Long Island.

Els had surgery on his knee after a boating accident in 2005.

TOUR DROPS BRITISH MASTERS: The British Masters has joined the English Open in being dropped from the European Tour schedule this year.

The event has been staged at The Belfry for the past three seasons, but the Quinn Insurance sponsorship came to an end and no replacement has been found.

It had been planned for Sept. 17-20, but the Austrian Open will now be played that week. That was scheduled for June 11-14.

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