Tour news: When Padraig Harrington next steps out onto a golf course, at next week's WGC-CA Championship at Doral in Florida as it so happens, expect to notice what he calls "quite a big change".
It's not that he has bleached his hair again, or grown one of those goatees. No, the new-look Harrington will have a swing that is substantially different to the one he has used to find a place in the world's top-10.
It all came about with spending a week practising with his coach, Bob Torrance, with Harrington, who has always been known to tinker constantly with his set-up in the quest for perfection, deciding that, despite a satisfactory start to his season which has seen him in contention in three strokeplay tournaments so far (without winning, admittedly), some change was necessary.
If it sounds a bit odd that he should tinker so drastically just a month ahead of the US Masters, there's no need to be concerned.
As he puts it, "my game is really moving on and I'm very happy with where it is . . . in fact, I've never been this comfortable with my game, full stop. I've never been as comfortable with knowing my game."
Harrington, who has returned to the top 10 in the latest world rankings, and is the leading Irishman by quite a distance with Darren Clarke falling further down the list to 57th and Paul McGinley positioned at 94th, remarked of the timing of the change to his swing:
"I'm always working on my game, and I've made a change that would be incredibly evident (to anyone watching).
"You know, it's unusual to change the swing so that it will look different, but I've basically made my swing quite a bit deeper and flatter."
However, knowing that it is not always wise to make overnight adjustments, Harrington reckons that the full change won't be entirely evident for some time.
"It might take a year to get it into my swing, but I'm comfortable with knowing how far to push it and what to do. Even though I'm making the change, I don't have to have it in place to play good golf tomorrow.
"I know I've played well enough the last three weeks that I was on tour to win tournaments, so changing my swing is going to help, but it is not the end all and be all because other things (like being mentally strong) are happening. That's where the comfort is."
Harrington's last outing came in the Honda Classic just over a week ago, and his return to action in the CA Championship next week (a tournament that has replaced the American Express World Championship on the schedule) will start a three-week stint in the US, when he will play the following week's Houston Open and, then, the US Masters at Augusta.
As things stand, Harrington is the only Irishman in the field for the CA Championship, which is confined to approximately 70 players coming off the world rankings and the various tours' Order of Merits.
One cut-off point in the world rankings, with the top-50 qualifying, came yesterday - but the final cut-off will come after this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament at Bay Hill on the PGA Tour.
Clarke, who missed the cut in the Singapore Masters last weekend, is included in the field for the tournament at Bay Hill and will need a decent performance there if he is to break back into the top-50 and, so, secure a place in the field for the CA Championship in Doral.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are also playing in Bay Hill.
Meanwhile, McGinley returns to competitive action after a two-week break when he plays in the TCL Classic in China (a co-sanctioned tournament on the European Tour and the Asian Tour).
McGinley will be joined in the field at the TCL by Damien McGrane, David Higgins and Michael Hoey.
Lee Westwood is also playing, attempting - like his friend Clarke - to break into the world's top-50 and gain a late place in the $8 million CA championship. Westwood is 54th in the world rankings, and needs to move up at least four places.
Money Leaders
US PGA Tour
1 Charles Howell (US) 2,327,825
2 Phil Mickelson (US) 1,669,642
3 Vijay Singh (Fij) 1,647,463
4 John Rollins (US) 1,471,066
5 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 1,425,990
6 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 1,350,000
7 Mark Calcavecchia (US) 1,316,183
8 Mark Wilson (US) 1,118,212
9 Tiger Woods (US) 1,066,000
10 Paul Goydos (US) 1,058,173
European Order of Merit
1 Henrik Stenson (Swe) €1,473,950
2 Retief Goosen (Rsa) €756,553
3 Yong-eun Yang (Kor) €686,332
4 Paul Casey (Eng) €606,884
5 Ernie Els (Rsa) €575,554
6 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) €552,695
7 Nick O'Hern (Aus) €458,457
8 Anton Haig (Rsa) €380,989
9 Justin Rose (Eng) €368,267
10 Michael Campbell (Nzl) €315,031
Other: 14 Padraig Harrington(Irl)€241,965
