Padraig Harrington found himself a winner even before teeing-up in this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Ballyliffin.

The triple Major winning Irishman arrived at the stunning Co. Donegal course to be presented with ‘Honorary Membership’ of the club.

“That’s very nice. Very much appreciated. Hopefully, someday I’ll get the chance to come up here and spend the time, if you can get the weather like this,” he said smiling.

Padraig Harrington entertains the media ahead of this week’s Irish Open (Photo @europeantour)

Harrington could very well end the week being presented with a second Irish Open trophy should history repeat itself.

Eleven years ago, Harrington captured the 2007 Irish Open at Adare Manor and then the very week before clinching a first Major at Carnoustie, he won a then fourth Irish PGA Championship on the Pat Ruddy designed European Club course at Brittas Bay.

A year later, and with the defence of his Open Championship at Royal Birkdale at hand, Harrington captured a fifth Irish PGA title, and also at the European Club.

It begged the question to Harrington if he could repeat his Carnoustie success in a fortnight’s time by winning again this week on the Ruddy designed Glashedy lay-out.

“I had not looked at it like that but the European Club and Ballyliffin are different pieces of land,” he said.

“I just saw a very traditional links golf course here. And maybe this is the parallel: It doesn’t really look like this course is designed. It just looks like it just was.

Very rarely, you don’t think any earth was moved for the golf holes here. They just sit as they are. They play like that. Yeah, it looks like this golf course just came into being rather than was designed, which is the beauty of it.

“Startlingly enough, if you didn’t have a tournament, you’d be out there going, where am I going. It’s amazing that when we went to different tee boxes, like it genuinely is, it is like, wow, this is out on your own, out in the wild.

“The great Atlantic wild — the wild Atlantic way, it very much is.

“If there’s ever a golf course that sums up the wild Atlantic way, this is it. I can imagine it on a wild day out there. I just said to my playing partners, “Thanks be to God we have marshals this week to find our golf balls.”

And Paul Dunne, who like Harrington is tackling Ballyliffin also for a first time in his career, will be hoping for fairer conditions than the weather that greeted him on a visit earlier this year.

“I came up here the week after the GolfSixes, five or six weeks ago,” he said.

“We played it once, got decent weather, stayed over and the next morning, it was really windy. I think it was blowing about 40 to 45 miles an hour.

“So, we didn’t bother and we just went home.”