TIGER WOODS and Padraig Harrington have shared the last four Open titles between them – but that is where the similarities appear to end going into this week’s championship at Turnberry.

Harrington is still trying new things in his swing and wishes the start of his bid for the first Claret Jug hat-trick since 1956 was a fortnight away, not a matter of hours.

Woods has won three times since the Dubliner last had a top-ten Tour finish – and twice since he last made a halfway cut on either the European or American circuits.

The world number one expects to play well. Harrington just hopes he might, but is not promising anything.

And he does not draw any comfort from the fact that a year ago – while Woods was recovering from knee surgery – he had serious worries about teeing off at all because of a wrist injury and yet still won by four.

Nor does he give the impression that Saturday’s seven-stroke successful defence of the non-Tour Irish PGA title has given him any meaningful injection of confidence.

"I’ve not really been showing much form in the last couple of weeks," commented Harrington. "I could only be hopeful rather than expectant to put in a good performance this week.

"The one thing I know is that if I get in position I can win. That’s the nice thing – others can get there, but they won’t win.

"Can I get into position is what’s in doubt."

Harrington is certainly getting all the help he can in what little time is left.

The two Bobs – swing coach Torrance and American mind guru Rotella – are both at his side trying to fix things.

It was hardly going to bring his odds down, though, when he said that he was making further adjustments on Monday.

"I’ve been working on my impact position and through concentrating on that my backswing got a little bit out,"

he explained.

"I have a tendency to break my wrist late in my backswing.

Earlier in my backswing I tend to lift the club with my arms and when I lift the club with my arms I get stuck in the backswing. I have nowhere to go.

"It seems if I break my wrist a little earlier in my backswing obviously the club is then going up and I have no need to lift it as much with my arms.

"So I tend to keep the club on one plane rather than lifting the club off plane. That seems to be a reasonable breakthrough for me because this is something I’ve done eight years on and off.

"Hopefully this will be something – I didn’t intend to change – that can be a significant improvement in terms of consistency throughout the year.

"I’ve spent most of my career trying to get better for the future rather than the immediate future, let’s say.

And that’s what I’ve been doing this year.

"We all do it, players. You sacrifice in the short-term so that you get better for the longterm."

Woods has, of course, played several majors in his career while working on big swing changes. But, as good as he is, he remained competitive throughout.

And when Harrington missed his fifth cut in a row at the French Open two weeks ago it was pointed out that that was as many as the American has failed to make in his entire professional career.

He and the Irishman played together the first two days at last month’s US Open and were separated by nine strokes.

"We didn’t really talk a whole lot while we were playing,"

commented Woods. "He was struggling a little bit, but grinded pretty hard and the second day getting up and down from where he was was pretty phenomenal.”

■ A muscle tear saw Indian Jeev Milkha Singh last night became the seventh player to pull out of the Open.