Contended, focussed and ready to take on Augusta

LIFE could hardly be better. My father Paddy is making a marvellous recovery from cancer, Caroline is expecting our first child in August and we move into our new house in Rathmichael, Co Dublin in May.

There is a lot to look forward to after Augusta.

Dad is absolutely great. He doesn't have to go back to the hospital until October. He's put on a stone in weight and they've told him to go out and play golf. He hasn't been out yet, he's waiting for me to come home and we'll start again. I'm looking forward to it a year of being out there on my own was not easy. Dad has always been there for me, picking up the balls, doing all the stuff, knowing that he's there on the sidelines. Company, really. When you're out there on your own, it's a lot easier when you have somebody with you. He was sorely missed.

He's a tough man and that obviously helped him to get over the cancer of the oesophagus. They say he was a model patient. The problem was first diagnosed in July and the operation took place in October. The fact he's recovering so well is a great relief for me. Naturally it was preying on my mind, it's obviously something you're very conscious of and you're wondering what you should be doing. The good thing for me was to know if I was out there playing well that it would be a big boost to my dad.

The best thing about it was that we kept things normal. When we were off, my brothers and I all went down to the house, but we kept it like he was never ill. He's not the kind of man to feel sorry for himself although he couldn't take too much attention, he would tire himself out, so we had to go easy in that way as well.

They say there is nothing better than having a child. I can't wait to see these changes. You know, half the guys are saying congratulations and the other half are sniggering and saying, now let's see how you get on with no sleep and so on. The baby is due on the Monday immediately after the US PGA. I won't be coming home in a hurry if I'm doing well in the PGA. I'll be staying on. I have Caroline's full approval for that.

Of course, I'd like to be there but I'm not going to worry about it until it happens. If it's late, then that's great, though I'm not going to be of any great help so maybe I'd be better off at a golf tournament.

Caroline has been giving out to me that I'm too thin and I suppose a few more pounds would be welcome, but basically I'm happy with my physical condition.

I'm 12-and-a-half stone and I've always used the gym, but when I got injured last year I couldn't do that so I had to cut down on the junk and bring protein bars with me rather than a snack or a bar of chocolate.

It's been a very gradual reduction, no crash stuff at all. I was lighter than this three years ago and I looked ill. Not so now.

Augusta has undoubtedly been my focus for the first part of the season. I'm not going to beat myself up over the next three days trying to find anything more. I'll keep it as it is and practice what is needed on this course but not try to discover anything.

The funny thing about last week is that I played twice as good as in the TPC and scored four times as bad. I really, really was tired. The first day I was okay but I lost the focus and the second day I couldn't find it.

The TPC took more out of me than normal. I led from day one which puts more pressure on you. It's not like I was trotting along until a good score on the final day put me into second place. When you hit fairways and greens it doesn't take a whole lot out of you, but when you're struggling and have to get up and down you really have to focus and that was a tough mental week, and the following week I was tired.

I don't think it was a mistake to go and play in Atlanta but it might have been a blessing in disguise that I missed the cut. There won't be any mental tiredness in this tournament because the adrenalin will be flowing.

In the past, I've done well the week after a good tournament. I won the tournament after the Ryder Cup last year, I've won after finishing second in Brazil. So I'm definitely not on a downer coming off last week even though I never like missing cuts. That's not me, but I sure could have done with the two days rest without grinding it out at the end of the field.

I practiced up there on Saturday and came up here on Sunday and took it easy. No practice. It's hardly stopped raining since I arrived, in fact it's been pelting down and miserable for all concerned. I personally would prefer to see a long golf course and soft greens so this is all right by me. Mind you, I think they'll get the greens fast for Sunday because the forecast is pretty good towards the end of the week.

It's not just that the greens here are so fast, more a case of the slopes being so severe. If you were to hit it to 15 feet every time, you'd be thinking of holing the putt every time.

It's when you get to 30 feet, now you're on a different tier or a different level, that's when you start to struggle. If they were to put them past 12 or 13 on the stimpmetre, the balls would roll of the greens. So they have to keep them at a reasonable pace and let the slopes do their work.

I know the course reasonably well but I don't think anybody knows it fully. It's never clear-cut and that's what tests you here which is the right shot to play now and knowing it is never the same and never the same for two guys at the same time. There's always an option out there and that's what confuses you when it comes down to it.

I'll only know on Sunday afternoon whether my game has come right for this week, which was my target for the early part of the year. You can never tell before a tournament, I'm not good at telling anyway. I think I've given it a good run, at this stage I'm very happy with the build-up. Last year I was around the middle of the top 10 on Sunday, but I was never going to win so I wasn't under serious pressure.

I remember Lee Westwood saying he felt like getting physically sick a few years ago when he stood on the 10th tee tied for the lead on the last day. That's something I'm well aware of, that somebody, who at the time we would all have said was one of the best guys under pressure, and he says he was nearly feeling sick that's good, because if I stand on the 10th tee in the same situation, I'll know it's normal.