AS PÁDRAIG Harrington discovered a fortnight ago in the Transition tournament, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Still, the Dubliner’s opening round 61 there, the lowest of his career, which was followed by what he understatedly called a “disappointing weekend”, provided evidence that he is headed in the right direction as he continues his preparations for next week’s US Masters at Augusta National.

Harrington returns to the fray, so to speak, at this week’s Shell Houston Open in the final fine-tuner for the season’s first Major and he is joined in the field in Texas by Graeme McDowell, fresh off his runner-up finish to Tiger Woods in Bay Hill which has moved him up to 13th in the world rankings, and by Darren Clarke.

For the two elder members of the Irish trio competing in Houston, the tournament precursor to the Masters brings them back to a course where they have performed well in the past: Harrington was tied-eighth behind Phil Mickelson a year ago, while Clarke has a second-place finish (2002) and fourth place (2005) on his more recent visits.

Clarke returns to action after a three-week mini-break that involved some holiday time in the Bahamas along with practice time in Florida. And, like Harrington, much of the work has been with the putter as he endeavours to get his rewards with the blade.

A brief return home to Dublin for Harrington last week involved a considerable amount of time working on his putting routine which, he felt, didn’t match up to the other elements of his golfing routines that he has worked on with Dave Alred.

“My putting routine is not quite 100 per cent which is causing the problem. It’s more evident to me after the work I done on my routines for the rest of my game,” admitted Harrington, who is 93rd in the latest world rankings.

Michael Hoey, fresh off his fourth career win on tour in Morocco, has taken a short break before resuming play at the Malaysian Open in just over a fortnight’s time. The Ulsterman moved to 74th in the latest world rankings following his win and has moved up almost 200 places in the list since last September following his wins in the Dunhill Links and the Hassan Trophy.

There are six Irish players in the field for the Sicilian Open on the European Tour this week. Gary Murphy, who lost his tour card last season, plays on a sponsor’s invite and he is joined by Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Paul McGinley and Simon Thornton.

Italian teenager Matteo Manassero has also added the Sicilian Open to his schedule after failing to secure a place in the field for next week’s US Masters. Manassero – who has finished sixth (Hassan Trophy) and second (Andalucian Masters) in his last two outings – needed to win in Morocco to break into the world’s top 50 to earn a ticket to Augusta. His sixth-place finish there only moved him to 61st in the latest rankings.

“The Masters would have been an amazing bonus if I had won (in Morocco). I don’t have any sadness about not going there because I have a great chance to win in Italy this week. I think everybody would love to win in their home country and I am the same,” said Manassero.