Golf European Tour: On the last occasion that Padraig Harrington was here at the Wentworth Club at this time of year for what is now the BMW Championship, in 2003, he walked through the corridors lined with clubs donated by old masters - Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, et al - and, a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, probably knew that he would be back, he just didn't know when.
Now, that time has come, and the Dubliner, who has been so disenchanted with the West Course's capacity to torment him that he decided to remove it from his schedule for two years, has returned.
"I want to win the PGA Championship and, in order to win it, I've got to play in it," remarked Harrington, one of the three top-10 players in the world rankings competing in what is essentially the PGA Championship but, in this age of commercial reality, has been renamed and upgraded with a prize fund of €4 million.
Harrington is back; but, by his own admission, with low expectations. In his seven previous appearances in this tournament, he has never figured in the top-10. The last time he played (2003), he missed the cut.
"If I was a rookie that year, I might have packed my bags and gone home thinking I'm just not good enough," he recalled.
Thankfully, sufficient experience from his learning curve had been placed in the bank for him to know that wasn't the case.
Still, even though he is back, there's been no change of heart about the course's unsuitability - and especially the greens - for his game.
"Lower expectations are always good, it's the high expectations I have to watch out for. I'd say I have pretty low expectations (this week). I've realised now that I'm not going to beat myself up regardless of what I do.
"In the past, one of the problems I had here was that I'd spend hours trying to work out why I was putting badly, or hours trying to work on my swing and thinking there was a fault.
"I now have the experience to realise that this is one individual week and, if it doesn't go well, it shouldn't affect my confidence or my form going into other events."
Maybe such low expectations aren't such a bad thing, especially after his tied-fifth finish in the Irish Open last week where Harrington conceded that finish was achieved despite playing "with a lot in hand", adding: "It gives you a lot of confidence when you walk away from a week like that where you haven't quite figured it out and yet you're reasonably competitive."
Harrington is one of 11 Irish players in the field, joined by Darren Clarke, who is much more fond of the place, with four top-10 finishes here in his last five outings, Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Philip Walton, David Higgins, Conor Mallon and Finbarr Madden.
With the exception of Sergio Garcia, the field, as Ernie Els put it, consists of a "Who's Who of European golf."
Els, ranked third in the world, and his fellow South African Retief Goosen, ranked fifth, are the top-ranked players competing in a field that includes 11 members of last year's winning European Ryder Cup team.
Strangely enough, the last four winners of the championship - Andrew Oldcorn (2001), Anders Hansen (2002), Ignacio Garrido (2003) and Scott Drummond (2004) - have been surprise ones.
All of which led Harrington to observe, "It's not a long hitter's golf course . . . the greens are very tricky and I think if you lose confidence on them, you're not going to compete. If you're gaining confidence, you're going to hole your putts. You saw Scott Drummond do that last year.
"I think that can take out some of the bigger names. If they miss a couple of putts, all of a sudden they are going in the wrong direction, let's say, as regards their form and confidence on the greens."
A bit like Harrington, Goosen, who is competing in his 13th PGA, has also struggled to contend in this particularly tournament. Why so?
"I've just always really struggled to read the greens properly. I hit a lot of good putts, but nothing goes in. That's the frustrating part for me, not being able to make the right putts at the right time. But I've had three weeks off now the last month and, so, mentally-wise I am ready to get going."
This time round, the greens are firmer than they have been in recent years and the rough is up. You'd suspect it will play into the hands of Els, who has a home on the estate, but, despite winning six world matchplays here, has never managed to win a PGA title.
"The rough is up, but I've got a certain method of playing the course. It's given me a little bit of success through the years. I think the course is a fair set-up, and you have to be accurate. You've got to try and get the ball in play and take your chances from there."
While Els will carry the favourite's mantle, there is a subplot involving Colin Montgomerie, who needs to move up three places in the world ranking to get into the top-50 and so earn an automatic spot in next month's US Open.
A win would sort out that particular problem, and the Scot, who won here in 1988, 1989 and 1990, knows what it takes to do that.
IRISH TEE-TIMES
07:00: P Lawrie, JF Lucquin, R Coles.
07:40: D Higgins, MA Martin, E Canonica.
10:30: C Mallon, T Price, S Hansen.
12:35: B Curtis, P McGinley, P Lonard.
12:45: S Drummond, D Howell, P Harrington.
12:55: I Poulter, J-M Olazabal, G McDowell.
13:05: R Goosen, T Levet, D Clarke.
14:10: G Evans, S Torrance, P Walton.
14:20: F Madden, S Wakefield, J Lomas
14:50: G Ralph, R Finch, G Murphy.
15:30: M Ford, R Muntz, D McGrane.
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