No rankings "carnage" for Harrington

Padraig Harrington remained 11th in the latest Official World Ranking despite missing his fourth cut on the spin at the US Open in New York.

As Lucas Glover moved up 58 places to 18th, Rory McIlroy two spots to 16th and David Duval an amazing 740 places to 142nd, Harrington was reflecting on what he described in his weblog with great understatement as "another bad week for me."

It was Harrington's first missed cut in a major since he shot and 80 in the second round of the 2007 US Open at Oakmont. We all know what happened next - three major wins from his next six starts in the big ones. But it remains to be seen how Harrington can regain his confidence in his driving before the Open at Turnberry.

Yet his description of his second round performance was revealing with the word "carnage" standing out like a beacon from the avalanche of positive thinking platitudes.

My back nine on Saturday was carnage. I struggled off the tee for the nine holes and it cost me four bogeys and a double bogey. In the end I finished on 12 over for the week and missed the cut by eight shots. I was very disappointed with my performance for the week; there were very few positives to take from it.

Paris awaits HarringtonHis build up events for the Open will come in the French Open in Paris and the Irish PGA at the European Club - two of the most punishing course you will find anywhere.

Anticipating what could be two nightmare weeks, he beamed from ear to ear and said: "Going to two really nice, tight golf courses. Absolutely looking forward to it! Paris National seems like just the golf course I want to tee it up on. The European is fine. I find Paris National very difficult. As much as it is a great golf course, it would be a long way down the list of courses I would choose to be competitive on. But the European Club I don’t have an issue at all. I know how to get around places like that. But Paris National is a tough track so that would be an interesting one to try and find a bit of confidence with my new fade!"

The joking will stop if he misses the cut there and fails to win his sixth Irish PGA title and his third in a row at Pat Ruddy's lovely links near Brittas Bay.

As Eamonn Darcy said on the eve of the event last year, "If he doesn't win there's something wrong."