Harrington calibrates eyesight in hopes of third claret jug

• By Rex Hoggard
• Jul 17, 2012 12:52 PM ET

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England – If Padraig Harrington rallies his way to a third claret jug it will be a testament to creative technology almost as much as the Irishman’s will.

Although Harrington has struggled since winning his last Open in 2008, he has started to see signs of progress, particularly on the greens where he has had the most trouble finding consistency.

At least some of that improvement is his use of a spirit level, a small digital device that reads the slope of greens, during practice rounds. Harrington spent last Monday at Royal Lytham & St. Annes before heading to the Scottish Open charting the layout’s greens and eyeing possible hole locations.

“I pick a number of pin positions on each green and took a spirit level out and measured the straight putt on basically all those positions trying to find the low point,” he said. “I was actually more practicing my reading of the greens more than expecting that I can pick out where the pins are exactly going to be.”

Harrington uses the level to make sure what he’s reading is actually true. “Just calibrating my eyesight more than anything else,” he said.