Pádraig gearing up for US Open

THE countdown to the US Open at Long Island’s Bethpage Parkin New York (June 18-21) begins this week at Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial tournament in Ohio, and the Wales Open at Celtic Manor.

Pádraig Harrington (who has now dropped to 10th place in the world rankings having started the year at No 3) is sticking to his routine of playing two tournaments in the build-up to a major championship and he has chosen the Memorial ahead of Wales to get things going. A week later, he takes in the St Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee.

It remains to be seen whether he is handling his schedule in the ideal way to prepare for such a massive task. True, it has worked in the past but hardly always so. Furthermore, in recent weeks he has missed the cut in the 3 Irish Open at Baltray and even didn’t contest either the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event, or another prestigious event, the European Open at the London Club.