Three-time major winner Pádraig Harrington shot a second-round 72 at The Players Championship today and admitted his closest advisers had intervened to rescue him from his golf swing “addiction”.

Harrington, the reigning Open and US PGA champion, has had a disappointing year on tour, missing the cut three times in 11 starts and landing a top-10 finish only once all season.

On Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, as he prepared for The Players, the Dubliner explained he was prepared to go backwards in search of improvement to his swing in order to be a better golfer than he was in 2008, when he won back-to-back majors.

Yet his wife Caroline, caddie Ronan Flood and sports psychologist Bob Rotella all spoke to Harrington this week and told him enough was enough.

“I had a long chat with Bob Rotella and my caddie Ronan last night, it was like an intervention,” Harrington said with a laugh. “Things are definitely turning the corner. In the context of my career it would be significant.

“I’ve gone down this road before, I will go down it again, that’s the nature of the game. I kind of get stuck into things and then get very obsessive about it. I’m happy that I’ve done it but it’s time to get back to playing golf.

“I have definitely become addicted to my golf swing over the last couple of months and I definitely need to get rid of that.”

Harrington admitted he was still a little way off ending his latest swing experiment but said he recognised the need to do so.

“There’s two things (needed to do that). The first is to realise it, the second is to commit to it,” he said.

“I’m not committed to it fully as of yet because I do want to finish off what I’m doing, but I’m fully committed to a time frame.

“It would take a few weeks to turn it around but, yes, in four weeks’ time, I intend to be fully finished with the game of swing.”

Harrington was left with an anxious wait to see if he makes the cut after a second straight level-par round him right on the line at Sawgrass.

Starting on the tenth hole, the Dubliner carded two birdies and a bogey to move to one under after nine holes. He looked set for a move up the leaderboard after a birdie at the first but he returned to level par for the tournament following bogeys at his 11th and 14th holes before he parred his way in.

Graeme McDowell also finished on level par after he posted a 73 that included four birdies and five bogeys, including one on the 18th, while Rory McIlroy was in danger of missing his first cut on American soil after he fell back to four over with six holes to play of his second round.

Germany’s Alex Cejka was the big mover of the early starters as he went clear of the field after he added a five under 67 to his opening 66 to move to 11-under-par.

Still searching for his maiden PGA Tour victory after playing full-time in the United States since 2003, Cejka carded six birdies over his first 11 holes, dropping his only shot of the day at the 15th.

Americans Kevin Na and Jason Duffner are both in the clubhouse on seven under, where they are joined by Masters champion Angel Cabrera after he shot a scintillating 65.

Out on the course, Ian Poulter moved to within two shots of Cejka, moving to nine under with four to play, while Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was a shot further back with two holes left in his round