Harrington Ready for 5th Major

Padraig Harrington will treat the The 3 Irish Open as his fifth Major of the year when the competition gets underway on Thursday.

Harrington, who uses Wilson Staff golf equipment including driver and Wilson Tw9 wedges, has won The Open Championship twice and the US PGA Championship but regards his home tournament as being equally important.

Irishman Harrington won the Irish Open two years ago at Adare Manor and is delighted that it is back at the County Louth club in Baltray for the first time in five years.

"Obviously the Irish Open is my fifth Major of the year, and so that has to be considered a very important event," said Harrington.

"I have one under my belt already. I'm looking forward to the week and I'm looking forward to playing golf with my golf sets - I obviously have to stay a little bit relaxed about it. There's a lot of stress involved in playing in your national open and a lot of things happening, so your preparation would not be ideal, but that's okay."

Harrington, currently ranked eighth in the world, expects his game to be fully tested at Baltray, particularly as wind and rain are forecast over the weekend.

"The course is excellent. It really is a good test, and a good golf course to come to for an Irish Open," he said.

"There will be opportunities out there but there's also a lot of difficulty on the course. And with the weather being mixed during the week you'll find that you have to make your birdies when you get your opportunities on some of those par fives.

"You'll have to work hard on some of the par fours - if we do get it rain, there's going to be times out there that it's going to be about making some hard core pars and other times you have to make the birdies with my golf clubs.

"So it's going to be a mixed bag this week and I think you're going to have to adjust and get the job done. It won't be all plain sailing, that's for sure.

"For the event, I'd love it from a professional standpoint, I would love it to get back to what it was maybe in the 80s or early 90s, to have a standing on The European Tour that all of the players love coming and wanting to play in The Irish Open. I do believe 3 can move it to that, I think sponsorship wise it is a good move and it's a big move."