Without a doubt, Padraig Harrington is a man who, as he says, "would never follow the pack in anything, I do it my own way."
Yesterday, a day on from his shock parting of the ways with his caddie Dave McNeilly, the Dubliner was back to business in hosting a corporate day at The Belfry - rather than, like the rest of his peers on tour, preparing for this week's Volvo PGA at Wentworth, which he has decided to miss for a second successive year - and also looking ahead to a summer that will provide answers to those who may question his decision making.
In fact, Harrington - who remains at number eight in the world rankings after his runners-up finish to Trevor Immelman in the TPC of Europe, but who has closed the gap on Jim Furyk, the player immediately ahead of him - is already looking to the future and has signalled that he is more ambitious than ever by taking up temporary membership of the US Tour, a move designed to get him into the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake, Atlanta, on November 4th-7th, the week after the European Tour's season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama.
Harrington took up similar status last year but failed to make it into the Tour Championship, which is confined to the top 40 money winners on the US Tour.
However, his performances Stateside this season - among them finishing runner-up in the Players Championship, claiming a top-five finish in the BellSouth, tied-13th in the US Masters and reaching the quarter-finals of the Accenture Matchplay - have won him $1,205,667 in prizemoney and would currently place him at 21st in the US Tour's order of merit.
And with his immediate tour schedule due to take place in the US, starting with the Memorial next week, it is certainly an appetising carrot that he can aim for.
Incidentally, Darren Clarke, who has full US Tour membership, is currently placed 19th with winnings of $1,250,435 from nine tournaments.
For a couple of reasons, Harrington's ears must have been burning yesterday. He was undoubtedly the topic of conversation among the intimate caddie community after sacking McNeilly, while also the subject of comments from fellow players who wonder why he can bypass the Volvo PGA, the flagship championship of the Europe Tour.
As world number three Ernie Els remarked, "I'm not sure what the deal is, this being the European Tour's flagship and Padraig being the top European player in the world. His absence is quite a blow, I would say.
"However, I have a similar feeling about the Colonial (on the US Tour), it is a course that doesn't suit me . . . so I suppose I know what it is like."
But Joakim Haeggman, who will be a deputy to Europe's Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer at Oakland Hills in Detroit next September, was even more direct. "I'm totally surprised that Wentworth doesn't suit Padraig . . . it is a strange call. Though the poa annua greens are a lot different in May than in October, I would have thought Wentworth suits Padraig perfectly from tee to green.
"The Volvo PGA is the second-biggest event in Europe after the British Open and a win there has so much to offer. It's still only May and he'd get straight into the Ryder Cup, just as we have seen Jimenez has managed to do. So it's a very strange decision," insisted Haeggman.
Harrington, for his part, is insistent that the course doesn't suit him at this time of the year and also because he has developed a high ball flight, which is not suited to the swirling winds over the treelines at Wentworth.
"It's like an incredibly swirling wind once you get the ball above the trees and I also struggle on the greens because I don't hit my putts firmly enough," insisted Harrington. "I certainly intend playing in the Volvo PGA at a date in the future. I'm keen to, and it is something I would like to win. I think I would need to bring a different game there and relative to my performances on average there to my performances in other tournaments, they have been disastrous."
The bigger picture is that Harrington doesn't want his confidence ruined by playing on a course and greens he doesn't particularly like, especially with so many big tournaments looming on the horizon. He has a week off (although he would have liked to spend some time with his coach Bob Torrance but, in a twist of irony, the Scot's at Wentworth this week) and resumes tournament play at next week's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, the first of a three-week stint in America that also takes in the Buick Classic at Westchester and the US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Harrington's second place finish in Heidelberg left him feeling good about his game but believing also that he wasn't firing on all cylinders.
"I'd a good solid week without any departments being outstanding or too bad," he said. "I always tend to remember the negatives rather than look at what was great and I know that I still have things to work on."
While Harrington hits the practice ground this week, Ireland's other tour professionals compete in the Volvo PGA, where the world's number two and three, Vijay Singh and Els respectively, head the field.
Clarke, playing beautifully tee-to-green but searching for a putting stroke, Paul McGinley, Graeme McDowell, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie, David Higgins and Damien Mooney make up the Irish contingent playing at Wentworth.
EUROPEAN ORDER OF MERIT - Irish positions: 4, P Harrington 736,740; 5, D Clarke 700,624; 11, G McDowell €329,310; 19, P McGinley 280,863; 81, P Lawrie 86,777; 89, D McGrane 73,779; 108, G Murphy €56,666.
