Padraig Harrington hoping to break through

Padraig Harrington assessed his game as ``shabby'' heading into the U.S. Open. In other words, he's right on course for a good week.

As is his custom, the 33-year-old Irishman found himself struggling a bit Tuesday, hoping to cram in enough work before the first round to contend again in this event. He has three top 10s in seven previous starts.

``I'm the sort of person that on a Tuesday is kind of trying to gather everything together,'' Harrington said. ``I always look to my weaknesses before I start a tournament and try and get them up to strengths. That's always the same feeling every tournament, certainly every major, is that I'd like another week.''

Not that he would change anything.

``Yeah, I've won when I've played shabby nearly every event,'' Harrington said. ``I usually play very well when I'm in that form.''

His season started off well enough, with his first PGA Tour victory coming in the Honda Classic. Since then, he's fallen into a bit of funk, and a tie for ninth in New Orleans is his best effort in five starts since. Harrington missed the cut last week at the Booz Allen Classic.

Still, he would like nothing more than to become the first European to win the Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

``To be honest, the courses in Europe are being set up with about 22-, 24-yard fairways like this and the rough is intended to be heavier than it is here,'' Harrington said. ``You know it's going to happen sooner or later. We're going to get a few wins in the U.S. Open.''