Tour Scene US Masters: Yesterday, just as dawn was breaking in this part of the not-so-sleepy Deep South, one of an endless stream of pundits to make an appearance on the Golf Channel was giving his tuppence worth, writes Philip Reid at Augusta National

He was discussing Padraig Harrington - who, after two top-four finishes in back-to-back weeks on the US Tour, has moved to seventh in the world rankings - and of the Irishman's prospects in this week's US Masters.

The supposed wise man didn't think much of them, actually. "I think he's all out of ammo," remarked the analyst.

Some hours later, with lashings of sun block applied to his face, Harrington stood in front of the locker-room entrance of the clubhouse at Augusta National and didn't look anything like a spent force.

Earlier, he'd made the drive down I-20 from Atlanta, where he had finished fourth to Zach Johnson in the BellSouth Classic. Now, in one of the year's most compelling weeks of golf, he was ready to embrace all that the 67th US Masters has to offer.

And, certainly, he wasn't concurring with those who wondered about the wisdom of competing in Atlanta, on one of the most physically demanding courses on the US Tour.

"No, it was a good warm-up," he insisted. "There's similar club selection there as here, a lot of swirling winds, tight pin positions, and you really have to be committed to what shots you are playing. Also, the greens can be very fast and you've got similar chip-shots around the greens."

Indeed, if he'd learnt anything from the BellSouth, it was that his chipping requires work over the next few days. "My chipping was just so poor, a big black mark against me going into this week," he said.

Yet, Harrington, now a veteran of four Masters, with a best finish of tied-fifth in 2002 and worst performance of missing the cut a year ago, insisted he wouldn't be overdoing work on the range or on the course in the build-up to the season's first major.

"Basically, I'm trying to keep stress levels down," he explained. "If you do too much, you get tired. I'll do the practice I need to do, but the key is to be nice and relaxed come Thursday. Sometimes you come here and you want to hit a putt to every pin position, to try this chip or that chip, and you end up not being fresh enough come tournament time."

So yesterday Harrington played just nine holes, and plans to play a full 18 today and then another nine (and the par-3 tournament) tomorrow. By his estimation, that should have him where he wants to be.

"Look, when you're here, you have to try and savour it. Time can go very quickly and sometimes it is only afterwards that you realise this is a special event and that you should make the effort to look around and hear the birds and smell the roses.

"There's a lot to be appreciated outside the golf and it can go very quickly. You can get lost in the event, you can get muddled up. I've found that in the past.

"Because there is a lot to be covered at Augusta, you tend to try and cover everything. Which you just can't do. You've got to sit back and accept you're ready and not do any more than you're capable of doing. In the past I have always been one for trying to do a little bit too much (in the build-up)."

Harrington's record in the Masters, apart from last year's blip when he uncharacteristically changed drivers shortly before going out in the first round and started off by snap-hooking his drives on the first two holes, is solid: tied-19th in his debut in 2000, tied-27th in 2001 and tied-fifth in 2002.

And while the Golf Channel analyst may worry that Harrington has run out of steam after contending in the Players' and the BellSouth in successive weeks, the reality is that this is only his sixth tournament of the season. Some players are already into double-digits.

"I'm not too worried that I haven't won a tournament yet," he remarked. "I'm happy with the start to the year. Things are developing nicely along the lines that I would like them to. I'm not in a rush to win, or anything like that."

Having said that, Harrington's schedule has been geared up to this week. It's a big one, and of the four majors the one the Dubliner believes is the hardest to win. Not because of the field (there are fewer players in the Masters than any of the other majors), but because of what he called "other people's baggage".

"This is a different challenge to the rest, there's a lot of history here. You've got to carry other people's baggage around this course. On most golf courses, you remember your good shots and your bad shots and this and that. Here, you remember everybody else's because we've watched it on TV for so long.

"Everybody can remember Seve (Ballesteros) dunking it in the water on 15, so when you stand there with a four-iron in your hand, you think, 'Seve', and I haven't even hit the shot. But the intimidation factor here is so strong that I won't be the only one to see water on the 15th.

"Also, coming back to the same golf course, you know all the difficulties from the past . . . it's a hard course to prepare for, because it changes so much. You're standing over a shot and it can change two or three clubs while you're standing there. So it is not easy to sit down and just have a strict game plan. Things change as you move along and you have to make decisions in the heat of battle, and that's always more difficult with the pressure on."

He stands outside the locker-room, his mood relaxed and focused, and there is not the slightest hint of being intimidated by what lies ahead.

In the past two weeks, Harrington has won over $1 million in prize money for finishing second in the Players' and fourth in the BellSouth. For him, though, that was all preparatory work for Augusta.

He'd love nothing more than to prove that he has indeed got plenty of ammunition left.