Harrington opts for Buick warm-up

Pβdraig Harrington has decided to break an age-old habit of not competing the week before a major by opting to play in the Buick Open on the US Tour, starting on Thursday, before travelling on to Atlanta for next week's USPGA championship.

In fact, the Dubliner - who has moved up to 14th place in the latest world rankings - will finish off a three-week stint in the US by also playing in the following week's WGC-NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

His American odyssey is part of a new approach to the week before a major, as traditionally, the player had preferred to arrive early at a major venue and to then go and spend his time preparing there for the championship.

However, the change in approach has been brought about by an awareness that the physical demands on players in Atlanta are likely to be such that some acclimatisation will be required.

Ironically, while Harrington has chosen to play in the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Michigan, defending USPGA champion Tiger Woods, who is under contract to the car company, has decided to bypass the tournament.

Although originally on Woods's schedule, the world number one - who has already played in two other Buick-sponsored events on the US Tour this season - has opted to skip this week's tournament so that he can spend more time preparing as he sets out to take his third USPGA title in three years.

This will be Harrington's fifth appearance in the States this season.

Previously, he finished tied-33rd in the Players' Championship, tied- 27th in the US Masters, tied-59th in the Worldcom Classic, and tied-30th in the US Open. While Harrington's preferred choice has been to miss out on tournaments immediately before a major, this won't be the first time that he has actually played the week beforehand. Prior to his US Masters debut last year, he was desperate to sharpen his game before going to Augusta and made a late decision to play in two tournaments in Brazil, where he finished runner-up and first (in the Sao Paulo Open). He subsequently finished tied-19th in the Masters.

While Harrington has opted to build up to the season's final major by playing in the Buick, where another Irish player, Richie Coughlan, is also in the field, a completely different approach has been adopted by Colin Montgomerie, who on Sunday added the Scandinavian Masters to the Murphy's Irish Open title he won last month to move into the European Tour Order of Merit top-10 for the first time this season.

Montgomerie, still one of those tagged with the label "one of the best players never to have won a major," has promised himself that he won't even practice until he arrives in Atlanta next week. "I have done everything I can to get the best out of my week before the majors - standing on my head, doing somersaults. Nothing has worked. So, this time, I am taking a holiday and am just going to relax," insisted Monty.

Yet, his manager, Guy Kinnings, yesterday stated that Montgomerie would travel to the USPGA "not thinking of himself as one of the favourites, but quietly confident," adding: "He has had a good July and August and it (the win in Sweden) is perfect after all that happened at the (British) Open and in advance of Atlanta."

Meanwhile, Paul McGinley has other things on his mind, most especially the Ryder Cup. And the Dubliner's final assault on an automatic place in the team will be launched this week when he competes in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor. After that, the 34-year- old flies out to Atlanta to play in his second USPGA championship - he missed the cut on his debut appearance last year - but his plans for the following week will depend on remaining in the top-12 of the European Ryder Cup standings after the PGA.

If McGinley stays in the top-12 after the PGA in Atlanta, then he will earn an invite into the following week's NEC in Akron; if he slips out of that top-12 (he is currently holding on to 10th position), then he will return home to Europe to play in the Scottish PGA, the week before the final counting tournament, the BMW International in Munich.

McGinley is one of seven Irish players entered for the Wales Open, along with Des Smyth, David Higgins, Gary Murphy, Eamonn Darcy, Paddy Gribben and Philip Walton.

While McGinley has his sights set on making the team for the Belfry - he is currently 49,122 points ahead of 11th placed Miguel Angel Jimenez and, in terms of getting into the NEC, he has a 58,447 points advantage over 13th placed Andrew Coltart - the quest for survival on tour is what occupies the mind of David Higgins, who is currently 148th in the European Tour moneylist and desperately needs a big payday if he is to avoid returning to qualifying school at the end of the season.