Padraig Harrington hopes his win in the Irish Open will be the springboard to a first major victory at the US Open. The Dubliner, who was in the hunt to win last year's US Open at Winged Foot, is full of confidence after winning his home Open at Adare.

With a first major win in his sights, Harrington can draw on the experience of his Irish Open win where he became the first Irishman to won the title in 25 years by outlasting Bradley Dredge in a play-off.

Harrington put that victory right up with winning a major and hopes the experience can help him earn a breakthrough victory this week.

"The key for me at the Irish Open was more not necessarily winning on the course but more so just dealing with everything that went around it," said Harrington. "And obviously, if you get in contention at the US Open, it can be quite a circus around the actual event.

"So that was probably the key with the Irish Open. There was a lot of distraction that I went through well and kept my mind focused on winning."

Harrington will need that focus at Oakmont which he called a fair test yet one that he expected to be tougher than last year's US Open at Winged Foot.

The winning score at Winged Foot was five over par 285 posted by Australian Geoff Ogilvy and Harrington admitted he would be hard pressed to predict a wining score but left no doubt he felt was in control of it.

Asked if he would accept four rounds of 72, he said: "I wouldn't be putting my house on that eight over par is going to win this tournament. But I certainly think it's got a chance. As I said, if the USGA want us to shoot level par this week, the winning score will be level par.

"So it's much more in their control than it is in any player's control. If somebody goes out and shoots 66 the first day, God help the rest of us for the next three days. But I don't see that happening."

Harrington has three top-10 finishes in the US Open, most recently last year at Winged Foot when he tied for fifth after being four over with three holes to play, essentially three pars away from winning what would have been his first major.

However, he is far from discouraged and the experience has only bolstered his confidence heading into this event.

"I had three pars to win the US Open last year and was very comfortable in that position," said Harrington. "It rolls off the tongue very well, three pars to win the US Open, sounds pretty straightforward. I was playing great, felt comfortable to that stage and didn't play the last three holes pretty badly either. I'm well capable of doing it."