US PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Drip, drip, drip-drip, drip! For a time, it seemed as if the leakage of players from this week's US PGA Championship, the last major of the year, would turn into a torrent as, for one reason or another, Nick Price, Nick Faldo, Paul Lawrie and Ian Woosnam - each major champions - all withdrew.

And, for good measure, a serious question mark was placed over the participation of Europe's number one, Padraig Harrington.

Last week, Harrington said his wife Caroline - who is expecting the couple's first child - would determine his schedule. But medical opinion that the baby, due on Monday, the day after the final round of the PGA, would more likely be late than early, determined that the Dubliner did, in fact, make the trip out here on Sunday, albeit a tight change-over in Newark meaning he completed the journey without his clubs.

Upon his arrival at Oak Hill Country Club yesterday morning, however, Harrington was reacquainted with the familiar red Wilson bag containing his clubs and, with Paul McGinley, set off for the first of three planned practice rounds on a course that is more typical of a US Open set-up than a US PGA one.

Of the three Irish players in the field (Darren Clarke is the other), McGinley was the last to secure an invite. "I know I got the invite on the back of the Ryder Cup, and I haven't played my way in, but I am really glad to be here. I was a bit fortunate to get in that way," admitted McGinley, who missed out on the previous two majors played in America this year, the US Masters and the US Open.

The first round tee-times have not been too kind to any of the Irish players: Harrington will be the first of them out on Thursday, at 12.55 p.m. (5.55 p.m. Irish time), playing alongside Fred Funk and Skip Kendall, while Clarke tees off at 1.15 p.m. (6.15 p.m. Irish time) with Michael Campbell and Chris DiMarco, and McGinley doesn't hit off until 1.55 p.m. (6.55 p.m. Irish time) in the company of Shigeki Maruyama and Bob Estes.

Harrington's initial observations on a course that is aesthetically pleasing were favourable. "It's an interesting track. It's obviously important to hit the fairways but you've also got to be somewhat aggressive with your iron play.

"When you play in a US Open, you just think about hitting fairways and hitting greens all the time but, here, you're going to have to take on some shots because of the softer greens, especially if it stays calm," he said.

"There are a lot of long-iron approach shots. You're going in with three- and four-irons a lot. If it was a normal tournament, guys would be more inclined to fire at the pins," added Harrington, who claimed that awaiting the imminent arrival of his first child was "a nice distraction to have. It takes your mind off thinking about golf all the time."

Since missing the cut in the Nissan Irish Open, Harrington has been away from tournament play and he remarked yesterday he probably "would have liked a tournament".

However, he did spent three days in Scotland with his coach Bob Torrance, and said: "I'll have had three practice rounds by the start of the tournament and my biggest thing is not to actually overdo it. I've always got a tendency to overdo things and I've got to be wary not to this week."

Pointedly, however, he added: "I've got to work on the mental game really. The game is there . . . if I can bring it out."

On the 11th hole in yesterday's practice, McGinley's tee-shot to the 226 yards par three finished only a couple of feet from the hole. Instead of using up whatever luck was going, though, McGinley opted not to putt out and, instead, concentrated on stroking putts to other areas of the greens where the flags are likely to be positioned come tournament time.

Of all the 156 players in the field, McGinley - who has slipped to 165th in the latest world rankings - is especially glad to be here. His face, as the man who won the Ryder Cup, is familiar to the galleries - he and Harrington were greeted by shouts of greeting virtually throughout the practice round - but he wants to get back to the form that won him his place on Europe's team in the first place.

"I'm playing fine. I've been saying that for two or three months, but I am simply not producing scores. It's a matter of staying patient. So far this season, I haven't had a run at any stage, even though I've played well," said McGinley.

"My trouble has been I have started tournaments with rounds of 74 or 75 practically every week. I know I am going to have a run some week, it's just that it hasn't come yet."

Indeed, he has made seven of the last eight cuts on the mark. "On one hand, it is brilliant to jump to make the cut on the mark," conceded McGinley, "(but) on the other hand, I am taking myself out of the ball game with my start."

Playing in the US appeals to McGinley, and the next two weeks - he follows up the US PGA by playing in next week's NEC Invitational in Akron - offers the opportunity to pick up important world ranking points.

Of the course in Oak Hill, he remarked: "It's pretty much how I expected it to be. You hit it on the fairway, and you hit it on the green. It's a different game over here and, for us, it is a bit like the tennis player adjusting from a hard court to a grass court.

"Over here, it is very much in the air, tee to green. If you take somewhere like the British Open the ball goes A to B and finishes in Z. It's all over the place. Here, wherever you hit it, it goes. The greens are obviously quicker, the rough around the greens we don't encounter at all in Europe, and if you hit it in the rough off the fairways it is is half a penalty shot and sometimes a full penalty shot. It's just a different game."

While Harrington and McGinley - who played the front nine with Thomas Bjorn before completing the back nine on their own - were out relatively early for practice, they were still a couple of hours behind Tiger Woods, who made his customary 6.00 a.m. start. This is the first time since 1998 that Woods heads into a major in the US without owning at least one of the major titles.

The field for the championship was completed after the International, won by Davis Love III, on Sunday - and, since Love was already exempt, the final spot was given to first alternate, Jay Williamson.