Minor switch as Harrington cuts warm-up routine for Majors

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON will swap quantity for quality in 2009 as he bids to stay mentally fresh for his assault on the major championships. The Dubliner reckons he can hit the jackpot by playing just one warm-up event before a major instead of the usual two.

Harrington said: “I feel I can build up quicker now for majors. I don’t need two warm-up events.”

He will make an exception in August by playing the 3 Irish Open at Killarney and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone in Akron prior to the US PGA at Whistling Straits. He explained: “The reason I can’t turn up after having the week off is I know I don’t have the discipline to do it. The way I practice is not good preparation. Playing golf stops me doing the bad practice.”

Even one warm-up event can put a spanner in the works, as he discovered last season when he had a major battle with Tiger Woods in the Bridgestone at Firestone before imploding in the following week’s US PGA by taking a quintuple bogey eight on the par three eighth when challenging the leaders.

He said: “I’ve realised after Firestone last year that if you’re going to be in contention, you wouldn’t want two weeks of being in contention going into a major. Even one week in contention has an effect the following week. Having two weeks where you contended wouldn’t be good for the majors, though, obviously, that’s going to break for the Irish Open.”