One day into his reign as Irish PGA champion, and Padraig Harrington spent some time yesterday figuring out how to rectify his putting concerns in time for an end-of-season schedule that takes in three big events in little over than a month: the Volvo Masters in Montecastillo, the Sarazen World Open in Atlanta and, finally, the defence of the World Cup in New Zealand.
Harrington, who captured the Irish PGA championship at Powerscourt in a four-way playoff on Sunday, has struggled with his putting ever since the Belgacom Open three weeks' ago. "I know what it is, the transfer from my backswing to the followthrough is all wrong. It is something that happens to me whenever I putt on slow greens, as was the case in Belgium, and I've been working on it for the past few days in an effort to correct it. "However, I tend to get over the problem quickly. It could come right tomorrow, or the next day, but I'd certainly expect to have sorted it out before the Volvo Masters. I know I won't get away with putting badly every week," he said.
Given that putting is one of the strongest areas of his game (fourth in average putts per round and sixth in putts per greens in regulation on the European Tour this season), Harrington is anxious to solve the problem before resuming competitive duties in Spain next week. Certainly, his win in Powerscourt has whetted his appetite for the season's climax.
Indeed, it is a sign of the high standards that Harrington sets for himself that he doesn't believe the victory - with a 25-foot birdie at the first extra tie hole to fend of Des Smyth, Francis Howley and Michael Bannon - should rate as his finest performance on Irish soil.
"It was a big achievement to win," he said, "but it wasn't my best performance. Maybe if I'd parred the last (the 18th), it might have been, but you have to do everything perfect - and failing to par the last meant that I didn't do that. I'll admit it was certainly one of the more exciting performances, however it wasn't the best performance." Harrington's win in the Irish PGA confirms his natural progression in the game which has seen him win the Irish matchplay and strokeplay championships and, as he admitted afterwards, his next aim is to lift either the Irish Open or the European Open, which, he said, are pretty similar in difficulty because they are both played in front of home crowds. "It just shows you the mental strength that John O'Leary had to win the Irish Open (in 1982)."
Nevertheless, Harrington also showed fortitude in winning his first ever play-off as a professional. And the fact that his putt came at the end of a day in which he had struggled on the greens made it all the more compelling.
Last year, Paul McGinley used a similar win in the Irish PGA to act as a catalyst for an end-of-season flurry that saw him win his second European Tour event, the Oki Pro-Am, and then team up with his fellow-Dubliner to win the World Cup. Harrington wouldn't mind a similar impetus to his closing tournaments of the year.
Next week, he returns to Montecastillo where he was runner-up to Lee Westwood in last year's Volvo Masters and the following week he plays in the Gene Sarazen World Open at the Chateau Elan course near Atlanta. "After that, I'm taking a week off before I play in the World Cup," he said, " and then I'm taking a complete five-week break."
In fact, Harrington has decided not to compete in the two opening tournaments of the 1999 season, the South African PGA and the South African Open and, instead, will make his seasonal debut in the Heineken Classic in Perth.
Before then, however, Harrington, with the satisfaction of having his first win in almost 11 months, will be involved in a hectic finale to the season.
