PADRAIG HARRINGTON will have a new perspective on tournament golf when he tees up alongside English Ryder Cup rivals Lee Westwood and Mark James in the Compaq European Grand Prix at Slaley Hall today. The Stackstown professional is this week wearing contact lenses on the course for the first time since having his sight checked by a Dublin optician.

"I am short-sighted so I cannot see things at long distance, like golf flags," he explained, "and when it is dull I struggle to see the lines of putts. "On the other hand, I have been having problems when the light is very bright, so I have also taken to wearing the new Bolle `eagle vision' sun-glasses, which are also a big help."

Now that he can see clearly, Harrington is in no doubt what his prospects are of following Darren Clarke into the European Ryder Cup team at Valderrama in September.

"Let's be realistic," he said. "I am going to have to win £200,000 in about nine tournaments to go in. It's possible, but I am more concerned about the Dunhill and World Cups at this stage of my career."

Harrington has, however, given himself a better chance of being one of the 1997 Cup rookies by arranging to have his coach, Howard Bennett, at tournaments on a much more regular basis than in the past. "He will be with me most of the time from now on, and will be able to see him at least every second or third week, instead of only occasionally," he explained.

The move puts Harrington on the same footing as Westwood, a close friend and even closer rival of Clarke, with whom he shares the same coach, Yorkshireman Peter Cowen. At the start of the year Westwood and Clarke wagered on each other to make the Ryder Cup team, at the respective odds of 7-2 and 7-4.

They had single and double bets, and each stands to win £5,000 if the Englishman follows the Ulsterman into Seve's side. With a total of 254,333 points to his name in ninth place, Westwood could cane the book-makers by taking this week's £125,000 top prize.

The main obstacle to him, and Harrington who lies 15th in the Ryder standings with 166,550, is European number one Colin Montgomerie. The Scot has chosen to warm up for his principal goal, the US Open, by changing his schedule to play in the Borders instead of at the Kemper Open, which is being staged this week right next door to the Congressional Club, venue for the US Open, which starts on this day week.

"I want to get the feeling of being in contention and fighting for a title so that I can take that with me to the US Open." says Montgomerie, who believes. not for the first time this season, that he is playing the best golf of his career. He bases his confidence on the 64 he shot in the final round of the Volvo PGA Championship to finish fifth, and the 65 he shot in yesterday's pm-am on a course he is playing for the first time.

"I have found the fault in my game. I was taking the club outside the line," he says, "and I am confident of doing,, well. Now I can go on from there.

Montgomerie's sights are on that elusive first major, which he thought he had in 1992, when he finished third in the US Open to Tom Kite, and in 1994, when he was runner-up after a play-off to Ernie Els.

"I just want to get to the US Open and play because it is my favourite tournament," he said. "I Just can't wait to, get going and get my first birdie."

Birdies will also be on the agenda for Philip Walton, one of the seven members of the 1995 Ryder squad in action here, and Paul McGinley, who is looking to consolidate on his best-of-the-season fifth place in the Deutsche Bank Open last Sunday.

Eamonn Darcy, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Des Smyth, Ronan Rafferty, David Higgins and Raymond Burns complete the Irish contingent.