Harrington looks to Torrey Pines
By Brian Keogh
Padraig Harrington has already turned his thoughts to next year's US Open at Torrey Pines.
The Dubliner could kick off his 2008 campaign in the Buick Invitational on the San Diego Course next January.
But his real goal is to play fewer tournaments than ever before - taking a leaf out of Tiger Woods' playbook.
The first tournament to be slashed from Harrington's schedule is this October's Portuguese Masters, which clashes with the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda.
He has also confirmed that he will not be playing in the World Cup or Tiger's end of season Target World Challenge as his wife is expecting the couple's second child in December.
He explained: "At the moment, I will probably be playing three or four less events than I would have envisioned at the very start of the year.
"As for next year's schedule, the Buick Invitational, because the US Open is in Torrey Pines, would be the only one added. So it looks like I'll take a few out next year as well."
Harrington has always said that he wants to play fewer tournaments so he can get to the majors feeling fresh and ready to go.
Earlier this season, he said: "In order to give quality time to my training, especially my physical training outside, I need to play less.
"There's a lot of good events out there and we are really, really caught with trying to fit everything in. It's a difficult, very difficult schedule.
"You need sustained periods to train. You can't expect to come off three weeks of tournaments. There's a recovery period after that, and when I've recovered, I'm back out playing almost immediately; whereas I should be recovering and training and then go back out playing.
"So it's an issue, physical fitness, physical strength and all that, and you need more time to do it.
"You know, as I said, if you were competing in other sports, you would only have half a dozen events in the year.
"We have only 30 to play in and that could be a hindrance in terms of getting in the gym and doing some serious work, bar maintenance work. You need to have that rest."