Week in, week out, the giant European Tour physiotherapy unit lumbers from venue to venue and usually parks itself close to where most players spend most of their time -- by the range. There, the medical people can peer out through frosted windows to assess those most likely to end up on the treatment table.

At this stage, Padraig Harrington could almost request a special place in the facility. Over the past month, his injuries have ranged from neck-cum-shoulder to ankle to wrist-cum-hand and, yesterday, on the eve of a championship that is held close to the hearts of every Irish player, it was that old wrist ailment that was casting the mildest of concerns about his participation in the event.

"I'm about five per cent doubtful, so there is a 95 per cent chance that I will be playing," remarked Harrington yesterday morning. Shortly after mid-day, following some more treatment and having hit some balls on the driving range, he was more upbeat.

"It's almost perfect," said Harrington, after hitting his opening drive in the Pro-Am, adding: "The odds are down to 0.5 per cent." How Harrington initially suffered the wrist injury is a tale in itself. In his last Gaelic football match, in Croke Park, he was marking a nippy forward by the name of Dessie Farrell, the current Dublin captain. In the opening seconds of the school match, Farrell turned him and Harrington "fell on my ear." The upshot was an injury that would return occasionally but never seriously enough to prevent him actually playing in a tournament.

On Monday last, after a weekend working with Bob Torrance that necessitated some swing changes that put extra strain on his wrist, Harrington got some treatment which inflamed and irritated the tendon in his hand. By Tuesday evening, he was finding it difficult to hit shots and was genuinely concerned about his participation. However, he applied some ice and, following further remedial therapy yesterday, he was confident that he would be able to play.

"I made a decision after the Volvo PGA (at Wentworth) last month that I wouldn't play any week that I was injured but, because it is the Irish Open, and because it is me, I'll probably go back on my word and play with an injury. I've had this for years but it has never bothered me as much in years as it did yesterday evening."

Harrington may not be the superstitious type, but he still reaches down to touch the wooden table when discussing the injury - and the hope that it won't really be a factor. "If you go and ask the physios, they would look out of their bus and see us all beating balls and would be saying for at least three-quarters of us, we shouldn't be there.

Golf is a repetitive sport and you are putting repetitive stress on your body from hitting lots and lots of shots. For people who are carrying an injury they really shouldn't be hitting ball after ball on the range and I tend to practice as much as anybody." So, Harrington is caught in something of a Catch 22, knowing that you need to practice to improve while also aware that he is increasing the likelihood of suffering an injury. But there is also the old adage of "beware the injured golfer," which maybe suggests that the injury could in fact be a welcome diversion from all the ancillary activities that Irish players must - by necessity - incur in the week of an Irish Open.

"It fascinates me how myself and the rest of the Irish guys under perform at this event. Every year myself and Paul McGinley discuss tactics and how we are going to play and I think we would all be delighted if any Irish player was to win here to take the monkey off our backs. Outside majors, the Irish Open is the one title for an Irish golfer to win," said Harrington.

"Irish players who you might think will be in contention this week are actually better players than they were in previous years, so the potential for an Irish winner is growing all the time. The guys who are in there are more experienced in dealing with the pressure," he added.

Part of Harrington's advance build-up to this week was to come here in the week before the US Open for a practice round, which meant he could delay his arrival until Tuesday afternoon and ease his way into the tournament.

Injury worries aside, Harrington - who won an Irish strokeplay title here in 1995, although the course has changed appreciably since then - hopes that playing alongside Tiger Woods in the final round of the US Open in Tulsa, which was actually his last competitive round of golf, will enable him to have a keener focus. "To compete with him you've got to see what he does and try to either copy or improve on it." If Harrington, can take a leaf out of Tiger's book, who knows what may happen over the next four days?