Harrington's desperate to avoid being another one-hit wonder

One year on from his dramatic play-off victory over Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie, Harrington has returned the Claret Jug to the safe keeping of Royal & Ancient officials at Royal Birkdale, but only after taking one last glance at the names engraved on the base.

The truly great golfers - Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer chief among them - are identified more than once. Indeed, those particular golfers have won at least one of the other three majors; the US Masters, the US Open and the US PGA Championship.

Other Open winners, however, have lacked that class. The records in subsequent majors of Paul Lawrie, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton, for instance, suggest they triumphed as much through circumstance than skill alone.

Remember the carnage of stormlashed Carnoustie in 1999 when Lawrie won what amounted to a golfing lottery? And did Curtis just happen to be in the right place at the right time at Royal St George's in 2003 when baked fairways rewarded good luck as much as fine driving?

There is also the suspicion, voiced by Harrington, that exploiting short-term gain from the lucrative opportunities offered to a new Open champion can result in long-term loss of form.

The 36-year-old Dubliner said: "I've made a special effort not to get caught in that trap. A lot of major winners complain a couple of years after they won that they played too much or tried to change so much. So I've deliberately kept the tournaments to as few as possible to stay as sharp and as focused as I can.

"Up to Christmas, the first six months were busy. It was good, though. It was the sort of stuff you wanted because you're only going to win your first Open Championship once. But since the start of 2008 the focus has been very much on this year. I've put The Open to the back of my mind, I'm concentrating on my golf."

Harrington, a qualified accountant, is naturally equipped to analyse his game, his focus and his motivations. Others lack that ability.

He said: "There's a lot of guys who have won a major but haven't managed to get out to the second one and a lot of it is to do with goal-setting.

"If a player is playing average after his major win he might think, 'I should be playing better because I won a major championship and this is how I played then.' That brings a lot of pressure.

"If you're careful, and you work on your focus, and you look forward, and you continue to do the simple things day by day, you should be able to manage yourself properly and work away from it. But it is a noose around a lot of necks."

Harrington has worked out that if he can play his way into contention in three of the four majors each year, he should be capable of winning one of them.

"One out of three is a good return," he said. "So if I keep to that sort of return for the rest of my career - getting in contention a few more times and winning a few more - then I'll be happy. "But if I get in contention another dozen times and don't win another major, I'd be really disappointed."

Reflecting Harrington's resolve to be remembered as a great major champion rather than just a good one, he ignored the big-money on offer - £500,000 to the winner - at the Barclay's Scottish Open last weekend.

That tournament was played on the ball-receptive parkland course of Loch Lomond, which is hardly ideal preparation for a hard-running links like Royal Birkdale.

Instead, Harrington teed it up with a host of club professionals contesting a first prize of just £8,000 in the Irish PGA Championship at The European Club just south of Dublin.

The same plan worked magnificently last year ahead of Carnoustie. And while Harrington successfully defended his title, the experience of playing in a combination of wind, rain and benign conditions proved far more valuable.

"It was an excellent exercise," he said. "I had the opportunity of sorting my shoulder alignment which was a bit open as a result of recent neck problems.

"This caused me to struggle in left-to-right winds. Hitting short-game shots was great preparation for Birkdale.

"Then there was clubbing, like hitting a nine-iron 170 yards at one hole and a six-iron 145 yards at another. And shaping shots. It's a feel thing that builds from day to day. I'm also especially pleased with my putting. In fact the whole thing has been ideal."

Birkdale has undergone a revamp since Mark O'Meara won the last Open here in 1998, most notably the building of a new two-tier green on the long 17th.

Harrington, who played a couple of practice rounds during a visit to the Lancashire links in May, said: "There's no blind shots and it doesn't seem to invite flamboyant play.

"The guy who repeats his swing over and over, hitting lots of fairways and lots of greens, will do very well at Birkdale."

A guy who plays like Harrington, perhaps?