US OpenSometimes Padraig Harrington is a conundrum, a man with a Rubik's Cube mindset that would leave a rocket scientist in a frazzle.

Yesterday, a day after losing a three-way play-off in the Buick Classic, which Sergio Garcia won at the third tie hole, the 32-year-old Dubliner clocked in for duty at the 104th US Open at Shinnecock Hills and immediately confessed that his game wasn't in good shape. "I'm swinging the club appallingly," he insisted.

Which would appear at odds with some facts, one of which is that Harrington has moved to seventh in the world rankings, and another that his $462,000 haul for a share of the runners-up position (alongside South African Rory Sabbatini) brought his winnings on the US Tour this season to $1,687,617, which puts him at number one in the "non-members" moneylist, a staggering $1.3 million ahead of second-placed Paul Casey.

What hurt Harrington more than anything, though, was his inability to win what would have been his first official title on the US Tour. His previous wins in America (with Paul McGinley in the 1997 World Cup at Kiawah Island and in the 2002 Target World Challenge, where he held off Tiger Woods) were in unofficial events.

"I take away nothing but disappointment," said Harrington. "It doesn't give me any confidence whatsoever coming into this week. It's another second place when you add it up, and that's it."

In fact, it was the 23rd runner-up position of Harrington's professional career, and his third of the season: he also finished second to Adam Scott in the Players' Championship at Sawgrass and to Trevor Immelman in the TPC of Europe at Heidelberg.

"Last week (in the Buick) was a funny sort of week. I played really poorly, swung the club really poorly, and was never under pressure because I expected to hit bad shots. Everything was a bonus because I had such low expectations of myself. But then to have the chance to win and let it slip is very disappointing. Another day, that putt would have dropped," remarked Harrington, referring to the downhill six-footer for birdie at the first tie hole that would have given him the title.

In fact, it grazed the cup but refused to drop, and his hopes of winning went on the next hole, which he bogeyed when his approach from the middle of the fairway missed the green. Garcia went on to claim his second US Tour win of the season, beating Sabbatini at the third tie hole.

So, it was with some concern about his swing that Harrington arrived here yesterday afternoon, just as the wind strengthened, for his first view of the course. He had spent much of yesterday morning talking on the phone with his coach, Bob Torrance, who had picked up the problem in Harrington's swing while viewing the Buick Classic on television.

"I wasn't rotating enough," said Harrington of the technical glitch that crept into his swing only last Tuesday, and which he partly attributed to wearing new contact lenses in practice to counteract a stigmatism in his eye.

"I was crossing the line a little bit. It's something I would have done for a long time, but it's an area of my game I've worked on the last five years to get rid of. For the last few months, it hasn't been there, but it just crept in last week and got progressively worse and I hit a lot of shots out of the nose of the club. I'm not laying the club off at the top, basically."

Yet Harrington was hopeful it could be sorted out on the range - "There's no way I could spend three days working on the swing, either it is going to be found easily without searching or it is too late" - and, in fact, was of the opinion that it was probably more mentally beneficial than believing his swing was perfect.

"The reality is that you'd be under more pressure if you thought everything was in place. I'd be going, 'don't fall apart'. When you think you have it, it is really tough because you're trying to hold onto it. But, then, the swing isn't everything, as I proved last week."

Harrington approaches this week's US Open as the leading European player in the world rankings and seeking to end a barren run of European winners that stretches back to Tony Jacklin in 1970.

"At the end of the day, if it's a European winner or an American winner, well done . . but I won't walk away from it any the happier it being a European or a US player.

"I'll be happy if it's a European and it's me, but it is very much an individual event next week and we ain't playing the Ryder Cup at the US Open."