BRITISH OPEN:WHERE NOW for Pádraig Harrington? How many twists and turns on this magical odyssey will his skill - and self-belief - bring him?
Only onwards and upwards, it seems; and the immediate consequences of his British Open win at Royal Birkdale on Sunday are he has risen to a career-high position of number three in the official world rankings and also moved to the top of the pile in Europe's Ryder Cup world points listing.
Indeed, Harrington has moved into new territory. And, as his manager, Adrian Mitchell of IMG, remarked yesterday, a second Major win - and more impressively, a back-to-back British Open success - will "help secure him endorsement deals and make him more marketable".
As if to prove the point that not all of Harrington is a done deal, Mitchell pointed to an empty space on his left upper arm.
What's more, a number of Harrington's endorsement contracts are up for renewal - among them the five-year deal with Wilson, which finishes on December 31st - while anyone with an eagle eye will have noted that Oceanico, the property group, had a one-off one-week deal to have their logo on the side of his cap during the championship at Birkdale. Talk about timing.
As for Harrington, the 36-year-old Dubliner will return to competitive duty at next week's Bridgestone Invitational in Akron before playing in the final major of the season, the US PGA, at Oakland Hills in Detroit.
After that, it will be time for a well-earned family break before the player takes in the first two events on the PGA Tour's FedEx series - the Barclays in New Jersey and the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston - and then it will be on to the Ryder Cup.
Yesterday, at a time when he could have been forgiven for wallowing in his own success, Harrington - now a certainty for a fifth Ryder Cup appearance - made a case for Colin Montgomerie, who is currently outside an automatic place on the team, to be given one of Nick Faldo's two wild-card picks for the defence of the trophy against the United States at Valhalla in September.
Admitting to having a first peek for weeks at the Ryder Cup standings as he tucked into his breakfast porridge yesterday morning, Harrington made the point that Montgomerie brings so much to the European team.
He explained: "It is very important to get a good balance in the team. Now that I am in the team, I hope to tee it up with Monty. I look forward to that. He would certainly be a pick of mine. He is a totally different man when it comes to the Ryder Cup and I don't think there is any player who wouldn't want to tee it up in a fourball or a foursomes with him and take on anybody in the world."
As of now, Harrington, as a two-time major champion, is also taking on a bigger status within the team.
Laughing, he agreed: "Yeah, I suppose I am becoming one of the elder statesmen. I'm certainly the more experienced with Major wins. I've always felt the type of player that, if someone wanted advice, I'd be there to help . . . even in school, I'd be captain of (football) teams but, for some reason, I felt with the Ryder Cup that there are other people who get more out of that position.
"I am quite happy that I can perform to my level, regardless of my position in the hierarchical system, whereas Monty clearly performs better by being a player captain. He clearly likes to be out front leading and doing his thing.
"I am the kind of person if you say you are playing number one or number 10 or number seven I'd feel I would go out and put in the exact same performance . . . I think that's my attitude."
Indeed, Harrington's attitude and work ethic is something that serves as an example to everybody. Yesterday, he recalled the time that he wasn't deemed good enough by someone to make a Golf Union of Ireland under-21 squad that featured some 20 players . . . his response was to get the head down and win more tournaments (as an amateur) that ultimately saw him play in three Walker Cup matches, qualify as an accountant and then make the belated move, by modern standards, into the professional game.
Since then, in a career that has reaped 23 tournament wins around the world and brought his PGA European Tour career earnings over the €18 million mark, Harrington's reputation for work is unmatched by any of his peers. Where did it come from?
"I think it just comes from growing up . . . you know, my dad, my brothers. It was always a case of the harder you work, the more you're going to get out of this.
"The key is, I enjoy doing the practice and the work. It has never been a chore. I spend at least one session a day in the gym and I don't enjoy that. But I do it because of my golf game. I used to be a lot heavier and I would love to eat all the puddings and the pies . . . but they are sacrifices you make because you enjoy the results. It all leads to winning Open championship trophies, I suppose."
