Padraig Harrington has rearranged his schedule to include next week's Mallorca Classic at Pula Golf Club as he bids to try and win the European Order of Merit title. He trails Ryder Cup team-mate, England's Paul Casey, by 218,185 following his superb victory in the Dunhill Links at the weekend.
He repeated his success of four years ago - including taking the team title alongside JP McManus - and there was a certain symmetry to the two triumphs in that his win in 2002 came after the Ryder Cup at the Belfry, the last time the contest was held in Europe prior to this year's staging at The K Club.
His Dunhill triumph represents a 10th victory on the European Tour to nestle alongside a brace of wins in the United States, a World Cup and three Irish PGA titles and brought to an end a two-year run without a title in Europe.
The Irishman has refocused his goals, making no secret of his new priority. "The Order of Merit is a huge deal. It's got to be something you want to put on to your CV; the Order of Merit is directly behind the majors.
"I've been using it as motivation after the Ryder Cup to get out on the golf course and push on. I hadn't won in Europe for two years, although I won twice in America last year (The Barclays and Honda Classics), but it's great to come back and win.
"You never want to go a year without a win. It's very special to win and I'm really happy the way I did it.
"I have an indoor facility at home and have that exact picture painted on the wall (the 18th at St Andrews), the Burn and the clubhouse and everything is on the wall. So I look at it every day. It was very nice to walk down there and savour a win as I went down.
"Valderrama is still a course I find difficult. You know, my best performance there has been fifth place. So I will need to go to Mallorca (Casey doesn't play in the tournament) to try to close up the gap.
"You know, going in Valderrama, if I play well, maybe I can get a top 10 out of it, but that would not bridge the gap. So I might need the aid of a good week in Mallorca as well."
Harrington knows what it's like to get tantalisingly close to winning the European Order of Merit title, having twice finished runner-up, in 2001 and 2002, and third in 2003 and 2004. Indeed last year, when he ended up 32nd, marked the first time he had not finished in the top three in five years.
He is also on target to eclipse his best ever season in terms of European Tour earnings. In 2002 he won €2,339,655 and following his Dunhill Links success is on 2,191,057.
He's facing into a busy end-of-season schedule that will take him to China, Japan, South Africa, Barbados (World Cup) and California. The latter event is the Tiger Woods Target Challenge, where he'll be joined in the field by Darren Clarke.
At the Mallorca Classic he will be joined by Peter Lawrie and Paul McGinley, who'll be hoping to secure a place in the Volvo Masters the following week. To do so they'll have to be in the top 60 on the Order of Merit so both will need a good performance in the Mallorca Classic.
McGinley, in particular, will be keen to earn a place at Valderrama where he would be defending the title he won last season.
Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy and Michael Hoey also head for Mallorca while David Higgins and Stephen Browne are on the reserve list, dependent on withdrawals to make the field.
