Harrington eases into Masters mode

FINALLY, YESTERDAY, Pádraig Harrington listened to his own advice. Sort of. He took it easy! Well, sort of. Rather than pitching up at the Augusta National clubhouse to the sound of the dawn chorus, the Dubliner was one of the later players to register - in the late morning, getting badge number 70 - for the Masters.

In fact, by the time Harrington registered - the 70th of the 92-man field to do so - a certain Tiger Woods, in the company of Mark O'Meara and Richard Green, was already well into his second practice round in two days.

Harrington's decision not to race up Magnolia Lane first thing yesterday was partly forced on him by circumstances after his clubs were delayed en route from Houston, but also reflected an attitude he took with him from his final preparatory tournament on Sunday where first-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner earned a late and final invite into the Masters field.

Of his showing in Houston, Harrington claimed to have learnt something. "I realised I have been trying a little bit too hard and I need to ease up on myself a little bit," he said.

He added: "I am results orientated and, every shot you hit, you analyse whether it was a good or a bad shot. You analyse whether it was a good swing or a bad swing. You analyse whether the ball did what you wanted it to do, or whether it didn't. And if not, what it means. All that sort of stuff. Then, (you wonder) whether you're just better off hitting and just go finding it."

Harrington's two tournaments in advance of the Masters saw him finish tied-fourth in New Orleans and tied-26th in Houston. In comparing the two weeks, the British Open champion remarked: "I haven't necessarily improved, but I know where I stand. The past two weeks has been about getting familiar with myself, so that's been good."

Indeed, the failure of Harrington's clubs to arrive on time - the truck ferrying his clubs by road from Houston suffered a puncture apparently, delaying the arrival of his and a number of other players' clubs -

meant that the player (the only Irishman in the field this year) got to spend more time with his sports psychologist, Dr Bob Rotella, in the clubhouse rather than on the practice ground.

However, Harrington did arrive in Augusta conscious that his short game in particular was not exactly where he wanted it to be and, while his preparations up to Thursday's first round involved two full practice rounds (yesterday - albeit later than planned - and today), with just nine holes and the Par Three tournament tomorrow, a large segment of his time will be spent putting and working on his short game.

HOUSTON OPEN - Leading final scores: (USA unless stated, par 72): 272 - Johnson Wagner 63 69 69 71; 274 - Chad Campbell 73 64 65 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 67 73 66 68; 275 - Billy Mayfair 72 68 69 66, Fred Couples 73 69 67 66; 276 - Charley Hoffman 65 70 69 72, Bob Estes 71 69 64 72; 278 - Pat Perez 69 73 72 64, Kevin Sutherland 70 70 71 67, Jason Day (Aus) 73 71 69 65; 279 - Steve Stricker 66 76 66 71, Bart Bryant 69 74 66 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 74 66 69 70; 280 - Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 72 65 71, Lucas Glover 69 69 70 72, Jeff Quinney 72 68 70 70, Ryan Armour 73 69 67 71, Steve Elkington (Aus) 67 74 69 70, Kevin Streelman 72 69 70 69.