The dates in his diary are circled and underlined. Oakmont in June. Carnoustie in July. Tulsa in August. Although Padraig Harrington won the Irish Open title on Sunday, the reality check is that bigger days and tougher assignments lie ahead. While this latest win - his 11th on the PGA European Tour - meant much to him, the truth is the boxes he'd most like to tick now in his career path concern one commodity: the Majors.

Harrington has two competitive outings before the year's second major, the US Open at Oakmont in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, next month. The first comes at this week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and, then, after a week's break, the second comes at the St Jude tournament in Memphis the week before Oakmont.

As Harrington demonstrated in the US Masters last month (when he was seventh, and in contention on the back nine on Sunday), and at last year's US Open at Winged Foot, he has the game to deliver majors.

"I believe I've improved my game enough, especially over the past 18 months, so that I'm better able to perform in a given week. My game is not as haphazard as it was," he said.

Harrington has competed in 35 major championships in his professional career, and has finished fifth on no fewer than five occasions: twice in the British Open (1997 and 2002), once in the Masters (2002) and twice in the US Open (2000 and 2006). The US PGA is the only major in which he has not had a top-10 finish.

Of course, winning a major is easier said than done. Only one Irishman, Fred Daly in the British Open of 1947, has managed the feat, and no European has won since Paul Lawrie annexed the British Open at Carnoustie in 1999.

Yet, Harrington knows it can be done, and that it is the next step for him to take. The Irish Open is certainly no major - a fact confirmed in part by the knowledge that, despite his win at Adare Manor, he moved up only one place, to 11th, in the world rankings. But, for Harrington, there is what he called an emotional attachment that made the pressure he experienced as close to that of a major as he could compare.

"It is a good practice run for a major, there's no question about it, because of the emotional involvement," he explained. "I can't see myself in a major wanting to win any more than I did (at the Irish Open)."

Harrington now feels he is better off playing the week before a major, so he has pencilled in the St Jude event, although that means just one week's break in a run of seven. And he has also committed to playing in the Irish PGA Championship the week before the British Open. The Irish tournament is being held at The European Club, so that will allow Harrington to avail of competitive links play before going in chase of the claret jug.

"The European is arguably the toughest links course in Ireland, so it is ideal preparation (for Carnoustie)."

While Harrington could only do what he did, which is win, he does believe the future of the Irish Open at Adare Manor is a marriage made in heaven. Certainly, it made an impressive debut with crowds over the four days exceeding 60,000 (including over 23,000 on Sunday).

Of the course itself, Harrington remarked: "There's no question this course could hold any event. Tee to green, the setting is spectacular. The golf course is top notch. It is a good sign of a course that they could have you shooting 16 over if they wanted to or 15 under, because they can make it easier or harder depending on what sort of weather is coming in."

The Irish Open will be back at Adare next year and in 2009, and Harrington expects stronger fields as word gets back about how good the course is and how good the tournament is. In many ways, it felt like the old days of the Irish Open, with good galleries and an expectant atmosphere.

Still, the date immediately after The Players in the States and ahead of the BMW PGA at Wentworth certainly militated against the strength of the field. Only Harrington and Lee Westwood from the world's top 50 played. The AT&T championship on the PGA Tour - won by Zach Johnson - experienced a similarly diluted field.

But Harrington doesn't believe "the date is as big an issue as people make out . . . I think players will come if they are going to get a great tournament, and the golf course and the sponsors are capable of hosting a great tournament. What's really going to help is players coming here and playing and going back and telling their mates, 'yeah, it really was a good event'."

More immediately for Harrington, there is this week's PGA at Wentworth. It is not a course - at this time of the year - that has been particularly kind to him, his tied-sixth place finish there last year representing his first top-10 finish in nine appearances in the tour's flagship event. He didn't even play in 2003 and 2004.

However, he does have an added incentive. As Irish Open champion, he stands to pick up a 1 million bonus should he win at Wentworth.

"I worked very hard last year to have a good finish and, you know, I feel I can do that again. But I don't feel it is the course for me, it is a tougher week for me. I just hope that, on Thursday, I am ready to go."