Charlotte, NC ….

Padraig Harrington has hardly been a fan of contesting the BMW PGA Championship in May  but he loves the thought of returning to the leafy Surrey course in September.

Naturally, there was no one more happier when it was confirmed Tuesday that as a result of the Players Championship was moving from May to March and the PGA Championship was moving from August to May than Harrington.

Harrington warms to the BMW Championship moving to September.

“The news is awesome for me as I play well in  September at Wentworth“, he said smiling and no doubt in reference to finishing runner up in the 2001 World Match Play Championship,

“It is great news and I am certainly a big fan of that change.

“I played well at Sawgrass when the Players was held in March and I have played well at Wentworth in September.“

Indeed, Harrington enjoyed finishing second at TPC Sawgrass in 2003 and 2004 when The Players was played in March but he sat out the weekend rounds four times and never finished higher than 49th since it moved to May.

As for his hopes of winning a fourth major and a second US PGA this week, the 45-year-old confessed that Quail Hollow looked a tough test after his first practice round.

“The golf course seems very difficult,” Harrington said before heading to Tuesday’s Champions’ Dinner. “A lot of balls on the greens are running off and they are running off into collars of rough and you are chipping up the slope and it can come back to you.

“All I know is that it seems very difficult but I am better than the rest at that, so I will take my chances.”

Nine years after lifting the Rodman Wanamaker trophy he arrived at Quail Hollow looking for a first win since the 2016 Portugal Masters.

“My game has been fine for a good while and it just depends on whether it clicks,” he said.

“I didn’t play well today which has thrown me a bit because I have been finding the game reasonably easy for quite a while. So I am just waiting for my turn, I’ve been happy with my game for a year now.”