Pádraig in a Lone Star state of mind

HAVING taken a few weeks off to recharge the batteries, recover from a few nagging aches and get in a few hours of practice, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy return to action in this week’s Shell Houston Open.

Harrington, especially, has been indulging in a great deal of transatlantic travel of late, but it doesn’t seem to have done him any harm, even if he admitted to a degree of jet lag and tiredness towards the end of last week. However, he jetted out for Texas on Sunday along with his family, wife Caroline, sons Paddy and Ciaran, mother Breda, parents-in-law Dermot and Mary Gregan and caddie Ronan Flood in good heart and hopeful of another solid performance that would put him in the right frame of mind for next week’s Masters.

So far this year, Harrington has finished 16th, 40th, third and eighth on the US Tour, finishes that suggest his game is reaching an impressive level of consistency.