Newly-crowned Open champion Padraig Harrington will seek the advice of other first-time major winners as he adjusts to a life of intense media scrutiny.

The Dubliner returns to action this week at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, having taken a week off following his play-off victory over Sergio Garcia.

Harrington has had little time to practice and admits he was unprepared for the extent of his off-course duties.

"Whenever anybody dreams about winning the Open Championship, they dream about holing the putt and they dream about holding the Claret Jug up. They don't dream about what happens afterward," he said.

"So while I was aware that this is going to happen, and it hasn't necessarily, media-wise, surpassed that, it's something I haven't consciously thought about. It's amazing how much of it there is.

"I'm going to have a chat with a few of the guys who have won majors for the first time and ask how they got on and what they felt they did right, and what they did wrong.

"I think at this stage that's probably my best tactic, to find out what other people experienced rather than going along and trying to figure it out on my own.

"It's been great having all the attention and doing all this. I'm only going to win my first major once, so it's great to run with it.

"Obviously in terms of competing and golf I couldn't keep running with it. I couldn't do this week in, week out but I realise that.

"I kind of knew that straight away when I won that my preparation wouldn't be right for the next event, that I'd do no practice the next week.

"I didn't get in the gym last week, I was only fit for sleeping and doing interviews  and partying a little bit.  I feel that's going to somewhat blow over and we'll get back to a bit of normality in terms of preparing for golf."

Harrington has already spoken to 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell and, in a year when Angel Cabrera and Zach Johnson have also won majors for the first time, the Dubliner added: "I'll talk to any of them who have done it.  This is a good week, most of them are here, so I'll be able to just casually sit down.

"I'm sure they all have one thing that they thought they really did right and a couple of things they said they did wrong. There's lots of experience out there that I can look for and get help from so I'm certainly going to ask."

Harrington has been grouped with Ryder Cup team-mate Darren Clarke and American Boo Weekley for the first two rounds of an event which has an 84-man field and no halfway cut.

Spain's Sergio Garcia, the man Harrington beat in the play-off, also returns to action and is alongside England's Lee Westwood and America's Charles Howell.

The entire European Ryder Cup side are present while Argentinian Andres Romero was added to the field following his maiden European Tour victory last weekend at the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship of Europe.

Romero, who came third at Carnoustie the previous week, has been drawn in the same group as world number one and five-time event winner Tiger Woods.