Philip Reidtalks to Pádraig Harrington about his preparation for this week's US PGA at Oakland Hills

AS BUMPS back to planet earth go, yesterday's was a soft landing for Pádraig Harrington. Exactly two weeks on from his back-to-back British Open triumph, the Dubliner finished at Firestone with a similar tap-in to that at Royal Birkdale for a par.

This time, it was not to savour victory, rather merely to provide the final touch to a 67 that confirmed in Harrington's mind that all is on track for this week's final major, the US PGA at Oakland Hills.

With beads of sweat dripping down his face after his day's exertions in the heat of Akron, Harrington, who finished on one under, could at least contemplate heading down Interstate-77 for the four-hour trip to Detroit with a sense of well-being. Well, as much as he will ever allow to infiltrate his mindset.

"I wouldn't say I would like the PGA to be starting tomorrow," said Harrington, "but I feel, over the next three days, I've a few things to tinker around with and I am hopeful to be ready by Thursday. I'd say I am where I expected to be (in terms of preparation)."

Nowadays, it is obligatory to ask Harrington if he is injured. And, having started yesterday's final round with a strap around his left forearm (the type used to combat tennis elbow), was there anything to be worried about this week going into another major?

"You know, I always have something niggling but, at the moment, nothing is constraining me playing let's say . . ."

There were quite a few positives for Harrington to take from a final round that was highlighted by an eagle two on the 11th, where he holed out from 102 yards with a sandwedge. The approach pitched a few feet past the pin, and then spun back into the hole.

It came in a sequence of birdie-birdie-eagle from the eighth that was brought to an end by a three-putt bogey on the 12th - "I was a bit gung-ho with my first putt," - that was, in fact, his only three putt of the week.

This past week has been good for Harrington, a chance to recharge batteries.

"I'm the sort of person that needs a let-down (after a big win). I've never been a player that goes from week to week with confidence. I've to look after my game and be disciplined and make sure that I do my work.

"I've never managed to barrel on week after week with confidence. But that's good, because if you know what you're doing in those weeks it helps you when it turns around and you have down weeks. It is good to understand what you're doing. Sometimes, too much knowledge can put you into trouble.

"I certainly understand what I do and what I have to do and that is probably the strongest feature of my game."

The lesson of Birkdale, when his preparations were hampered by a wrist injury and he was limited to playing just nine holes of practice and spent most of the preceding days walking the course and confined to chipping and putting around the greens, won't see him adopting a similar approach at Oakland Hills in Detroit this week however.

"I've learned that lesson a long time ago, but do I believe it every week? No. The hardest thing is to stop and believe you are ready, by a long way. It is very, very hard to be that confident. It takes a lot of good discipline to be able to say, 'no, we're ready', so we are always working at that.

"I've a bit of work to do over the next couple of days and, hopefully, by Thursday I'll be nice and sharp and ready to go."