Harrington: I’m lacking focus

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON insists his problems are between his ears and not in his swing as he battles to regain his shaken confidence ahead of this week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

The Open and US PGA champion headed to Tucson on Saturday evening after missing the cut for the second week in succession at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

His main mission was to find Dr Bob Rotella.

Before the start at Riviera, Harrington suggested he was keen to see some form in his game after following an erratic performance in the Buick Invitational, where he was 24th, with a missed cut at Pebble Beach.

But, after another disappointing week, he confessed he is lacking trust in his swing and needs to sit down with his mental coach Rotella rather than his swing guru Bob Torrance.

“I talk to Bob Torrance on the phone. But there ain’t anything wrong with the swing. It is the other Bob I need to talk to,” Harrington said.

Assessing the gremlins in his game — wayward driving, poor chipping and lacklustre putting — he added: “It is lack of competition really. Lack of trust. I am seeing Northern Trust Open on the poster over there and it just jumped into my mind.

“It’s lack of focus.

“There is nothing much wrong with my game that a couple of putts would’t sort out. Or a couple of chips. Or a bit of this, that and the other.

“I just have to get out there and keep working.

Harrington will be bidding for the third leg of the “Paddy Slam” in the Masters in just over six weeks time, which is why he’s not too concerned that his putting is letting him down right now.

“As long as I am not missing those putts in five or six weeks’ time, that is the main thing,” he said.