GOLF:FOR THE three Irish players in the field for this week's €6.2 million WGC-Accenture Matchplay in the Tucson desert, the respective build-ups couldn't be more different: US Open champion Graeme McDowell has completed a four-week lay-off from tournament play; Rory McIlroy has had a week at home in north Down combining gym work with practice and some television work, while Pádraig Harrington has endured a couple of frustrating weeks where he has combined the good with the bad in events in California.

In fact, Harrington has twice got himself on to the fringes of contention at the midpoint of tournaments – in both Pebble Beach and the LA Open in Riviera this past two weeks – only to, as the Americans might put it, “bomb” over the weekend, where he has fallen away to finish in tied-63rd and tied-55th respectively.

Harrington plays his third successive tournament stateside in the Accenture, which starts tomorrow, and has a first-round encounter with former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy. McDowell, meanwhile, has an opening round match with Heath Slocum, while McIlroy opens his campaign with a match against Jonathan Byrd.

The final line-up for the championship has been confirmed, with Sweden’s Henrik Stenson – the first reserve – coming in the field to replace Japan’s Toru Taniguchi, who withdrew due to a neck injury. Stenson, a previous winner of the event, faces a first-round encounter with world number one Lee Westwood. Taniguchi is the only player from the world’s top 64 not in the draw.

Ernie Els, who was advised not to play in last week’s LA Open in Riviera as he recovered from a neck injury, is set to play after being given the all-clear by his medical team. The South African has a first-round date with US Ryder Cup player Jeff Overton.

Harrington’s on-course problems over successive weekends have led him to seek out his sports psychologist Bob Rotella, with whom he had no fewer than three sessions in Los Angeles last week. “After working with Bob, I could see that I had become too hard on myself and was trying too hard to hit the perfect shot,” said the 39-year-old Dubliner who returns to the Dove Mountain course aware that he is due a turnaround in fortune. He has been a first-round casualty at the venue for the past two years.

In contrast, McIlroy made an impressive debut in this tournament on the course in 2009 – reaching the quarter-finals where he fell to eventual champion Ogilvy – and returns to the desert in hopeful mood after finishing second and 10th in Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively on his only outings so far this season.

McIlroy, who decided not to take out his PGA Tour card this year, is nevertheless embarking on a three-week stint in the US which takes in the Accenture, next week’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens (playing on a sponsor’s invite) and the following week’s WGC-CA Championship at Doral.

For McDowell, who has finished third in his opening two events of the year, in Hawaii and Abu Dhabi, the past month has been spent overseeing the construction of his new house in Orlando as well as working on his game. The Ulsterman had his coach Pete Cowen over with him for much of last week as he prepared for a return to action.

McDowell has been a first-round loser on each of the past two years in the Accenture but the world number five is now operating at a different level, returning as a Major champion and with his Ryder Cup heroics to tap into.

“The Matchplay is a funny event in that you can shoot in the low 60s and still get knocked out in the first round – or you can progress by scoring in the mid-70s,” admitted McDowell.

His reappearance at the Accenture kick-starts a run that will also take in next week’s Honda Classic, the WGC-CA Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the Tavistock Cup.

All three Irish players are in different sections of the draw, with Harrington – if he manages to overcome Ogilvy – set for a second-round meeting with the winner of the Tiger Woods-Thomas Bjorn opener. A McDowell win in the first round would see him play the winner of the Ross Fisher-Robert Allenby match, while the winner of McIlroy-Byrd match will meet either Adam Scott or Ben Crane.