Padraig Harrington's interest in the European Open had finished long before the first thunderstorm rolled in on Sunday. Indeed, you can bet he left a course that simply does not suit his eye, with few regrets. With the British Open just around the corner, his mindset had already moved on to the different demands of links golf, with firm underfoot conditions and its requirements for low ball flight and for crafting shots in the wind.

These days, much of what Harrington does is centred around the majors. Unfortunately for him, the Dubliner's missed cut in last month's US Open was his sixth in the last nine majors going back to 2005 US Masters. Still, Harrington perseveres in trying to unlock the door to major championships and, to that end, he is taking a different path to many others bound for Carnoustie.

While many of the world's top players, including Phil Mickelson, are competing in the 4.5 million Barclays Scottish Open, Harrington - seeking a fourth title - will be playing in the Irish PGA Championship over the European Club at Brittas Bay, a tournament with a small fraction of that Loch Lomond purse.

It's an appearance that is as much about refamiliarising with links golf and grooming himself for the demands of Carnoustie next week, although his winner's instincts will guarantee he will also want to win.

"The European is probably the toughest links course in Ireland and Carnoustie is probably the toughest they have in Britain . . . so, it's a good opportunity obviously for me to practice in those conditions in a competitive tournament," Harrington explains.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge, you're going to have to play well at the European Club to perform. It's a beautiful place. I've been playing it for years and the 17th hole is one of the toughest holes ever in golf and no better hole to practise on."

He added: "I'm looking forward to playing a links golf course. I'm sure it's going to be tough. It's obviously going to be set up as fair as they can on a very difficult golf course."

Harrington, who does not like to play a parkland course in the week ahead of the British Open, is grateful the Irish PGA listened to his suggestion that the tournament be staged on a links course in the week ahead of the season's third major.

"I'm obviously helping the championship, and they are helping me by having it on a links golf course. So it works both ways. I'm very appreciative and I'm really looking forward to playing it. It would be the worst thing in the world now if I had a week off after the European Open because the type of work I need to do can only be done on the golf course, there's nowhere else to do it," he said.

Harrington does things his way and he is certainly the exception to the rule this week. All of his fellow Irish professionals on tour who can play in the Scottish Open are playing. So it is that Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Damien McGrane, Graeme McDowell, Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy will all be on the banks of Loch Lomond, while he is doing his own thing and playing competitive golf in the Irish PGA with his mind looking ahead to next week's return of the British Open to Carnoustie.

Despite his poor showing in the European Open, where he finished tied-52nd, Harrington - who remains at number 10 in the latest world rankings - insisted that he was "happy" with his game.

"I'm happy with how I'm swinging it," he said, although there would other elements that he wished to look to, explaining: "I can only look to my routine and decision-making during my shots and I've got a week and a half to look at that. This is not the time to look to fix something with my swing. It's a lot easier to be working on my mental game. I'm upbeat about my swing. It's all about my focus from here on in. I'll just look at my routines and my decision making, get a clear picture before I get over the ball. I am also going to try to be a bit more positive in my reading on the greens."

Harrington has also allayed any concerns about his knee injury, although he has decided to keep his physiotherapist, Dale Richardson, on for an extra few days to keep on top of the situation.

"I'll have some more treatment but I'm not too concerned about it at the moment. It has been strapped up and it's not giving me bother. I did notice during the European Open that I did struggle to hold my balance quite a lot. I don't know if that was a bad habit by me or down to my knee. It is something I will have to look into over the next couple of days to make sure I'm not protecting it subconsciously."

Meanwhile, Clarke, who finally made a cut for the first time this season in the Buick Open in Michigan a fortnight ago, returns to competition in the Scottish Open this week, a tournament he ranks as "second only to the (British) Open in my affections".

Clarke, who has slipped to 128th in the latest world rankings, hopes he can move on for the rest of the season now that he has managed to end his run of seven consecutive missed cuts in stroke play tournaments. "It's been a bit frustrating, considering all the effort I've been putting in in practice. But now I can look forward with more optimism, particularly with two of my favourite events on the calendar coming up."