By Brian Keogh

Padraig Harrington plans to take the Carnoustie route to Masters glory at Augusta.

The Dubliner has confirmed that he will skip this month's WGC - CA Championship in Miami and play two events immediately before the first major of the year instead.

World No 10 Harrington played the Smurfit European Open and the Irish PGA Championship before going on to win the Open at Carnoustie last year

And he believes that skipping his first World Golf Championship will give him the best chance of grabbing his second major title at Augusta.

In a statement, Harrington said: "My next target is obviously the Masters in April. I feel that I am at my best during the third week of a tournament run, as evidenced by playing two events before last years Open Championship.

"Therefore I have decided not to play the WGC - CA Championship at Doral in March.

"Unfortunately the tournament does not fit into my schedule as far as my build-up to the Masters is concerned, so I will play the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Shell Houston Open the two weeks immediately prior to this years first Major."

Harrington will make his fourth appearance of the season in next week's Ballantine's Championship in Korea from March 13-16 and then take another week off before heading to New Orleans.

He added: "I am happy with the way that my season has started, especially finishing third at the LA Open.

"I have some swing related work to do with Bob Torrance, but feel that I am getting back into tournament mode and ready for the season ahead."

Ireland's Damien McGrane and Graeme McDowell can still qualify for Doral if they move into the top-10 on the European Order of Merit following this week's Maybank Malaysian Open.

McGrane slipped from 12th to 14th and McDowell from 19th to 22nd after they missed the cut at the Johnnie Walker Championship in New Delhi.