Most times, Padraig Harrington is easily found. Head for the practice range and, if it's not Vijay Singh's red bag cemented to the turf, then it's that of Harrington's. Half an hour before his final practice round, he's on the far end of the ground firing shots back into the wind towards the clubhouse that graces the hills overlooking the ninth and 18th greens.

A trickle of sweat rolls down his face and is brushed clear. The heat is not an issue with the Dubliner, though. "It's a lot worse in Malaysia (where he has contended twice in two years), I actually feel comfortable in this. Once you're disciplined, drink plenty of water and eat plenty of fruit to replace electrolytes, then you should be fine," says Harrington, who is attempting to follow his fifth-placed finish in Pebble Beach last year with another strong showing in a US Open.

Harrington's preparations for this, his 13th appearance in a major, have varied from past efforts. He has had a two-week break - augmented by eight physiotherapy sessions on his back-cum-neck strain and on an old ankle injury that flared up at Wentworth three weeks ago - during which he has worked on his game, particularly his short game.

However, if the player does have worries heading into the championship, it concerns his concentration. Normally, that is one of his strongest traits but he confesses it is an element of his game that he is "working on harder than any other." On Monday, he had a two-hour session with American sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella and, although these deliberations have all the secrecy of a meeting of masons, Harrington believes the one-on-one encounter will benefit him significantly.

"It's an interesting course," he says of Southern Hills, "slightly different to what you expect from the USGA. But it is a course that I like, sort of halfway between the Olympic Club, which was quite tricky, and Congressional, which was long and quite straightforward. Somebody hitting it in the middle of the green a lot, and who keeps doing it, will do nicely.

"I intend to stick to my gameplan, to try and keep the ball below the pin. I actually haven't practised too many shots over the green because, as I said to Dave (McNeilly, his caddie), if we get in there, we shouldn't be there," says Harrington, who finalised his preparations by playing 18 holes alongside Kirk Triplett and Phillip Price, only the second time he had played a full round since his arrival here on Saturday.