Padraig Harrington believes good driving will determine whether or not he can add a title at the US PGA Championship to the one he collected at The Open Championship last month.
The two-time Open Championship winner, who was part of the European Ryder Cup Team that triumphed at Oakland Hills Country Club in 2004, played nine holes of practice on both Monday and Tuesday at the par-70, 7,395 yard South Course before concluding: "It’s just a bigger golf course.”
An extra 300 extra yards have been added since the Irishman’s 2004 visit, and this time he is expecting a more rigorous set-up.
The 36 year old said: “Since we have come back, there's more drivers off the tee, it's enclosed with more bunkers, I suppose most of them were there the last time but I think that you got to hit driver, you've got to hit it straight.
“And the greens, while they’re incredibly difficult to putt on, they're at least a little bit more receptive than they were back in The Ryder Cup (in 2004).”
The Irishman compared the golf course to those set-up for previous editions of the US Open.
He said: “I think this golf course is set up more like what a US Open was set up three or four years ago where missing the fairway by a couple of yards is the same as missing it by ten yards. There is no difference once you go off, there's no first cut, second cut, third cut of rough.
“So this is a tougher test in those terms, and it's a more intimidating test and more punishing in the sense that a slight miss is just as bad as a big miss. Maybe even a big miss might get away with more.
“So it will be an interesting golf course to see shot management out there and whether to be aggressive or not, or whether to play very cautiously.”
Elsewhere, Ian Poulter is adamant that thoughts of Ryder Cup qualification will not enter his mind until he has struck his last ball at Oakland Hills.
The Englishman, who made his Ryder Cup debut at the same course in the 18.5-9.5 European victory over the United States in 2004, is on the verge of 2008 captain Nick Faldo’s Team and arrives at the season’s final major in superb form.
The Open Championship runner-up followed up his strong Royal Birkdale finish with a tie for 16th at last weekend’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, sending the Englishman up to seventh on the world points list for the Team and only 20,000 points behind his friend Justin Rose on the European points list.
Now Poulter has targeted a third big finish in succession at what is another big points-scoring event so he can put the matter to bed.
“Obviously the last couple of weeks has put me in a slightly different position than what I was four weeks ago,” Poulter said.
“So, yeah, I understand that I'm 20,000 euros behind Justin and about 25 world ranking points out of position on the world list.
“There's no point looking at it any more. I understand where I am and I understand that these four days coming up are going to be very important.
“So I just need to play well, to be honest. It will be what will be. I can't worry about it too much. I can't keep thinking about it because it will take its toll, and I don't want to keep letting it affect my routine for this week.
“I just know what I’ve got to do. I can only do what I can do and that is play good golf this week. If I play well, I'll be in the side.
“If I play solid for the next four tournaments that I'm going to play, if I'm not in the side, I'm sure going to have a chance to be getting a pick. That's what I do know.
“There's just been an awful lot of talk about it and I've just got to get out there and play golf and enjoy myself. And if I do that then I'll be in the side.”
“This week is a big week and I'm playing good golf. So I don't want to try and get past this next week yet.”
