Padraig Harrington, who will be bidding for a rare third consecutive major title at next month's US Masters, has set his sights on becoming Europe's most prolific grand slam champion.
Victory at last year's PGA Championship gave the Irishman his third major crown, leaving him trailing only Briton Nick Faldo (six) and Spaniard Seve Ballesteros (five) among European golfers of the modern era.
Jack Nicklaus piled up a record tally of 18 majors while fellow American Tiger Woods lies second in the all-time standings with 14.
‘I'd be more thinking about bridging the gap between the best players in Europe,’ Harrington told reporters on Tuesday in the build-up to this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.
‘I'd love to sit here and say: 'Hey, look, I'm trying to bridge the gap between me and Jack Nicklaus'.
‘But that's way up there so why not go for Faldo, who's won six, and Seve, with five. Those are the more immediate gaps.
‘I've gotten to win the most majors any Irish person has ever won so the next level is to try and win the most majors any European guy has won, and then you start moving on from that.
‘But to get to five, you've got to win four, so just winning another one is the focus now.’
Harrington clinched his first major victory at the 2007 British Open before successfully defending his Open title at Royal Birkdale last year.
While accepting his breakthrough at Carnoustie did wonders for his confidence at the highest level, he felt his second major triumph was the most noteworthy in enhancing his status.
‘After winning one major, it's significant to win two,’ the 37-year-old Dubliner said. ‘Two to three is great but it's not as big a job as (from) one to two, that's for sure. And three to four wouldn't be as big a jump as one to two was.’
Much of the speculation going into the April 9-12 Masters will focus on whether Harrington can match the feat of three major victories in a row achieved only by Woods (2000), Nicklaus (1971-2) and Ben Hogan (1953).
The Irishman played down his chances.
‘It would be a nice bonus to win three majors in a row but does it make much difference whether I win this one or win one in a year's time or two years' time?’ he asked.
‘No, I'm quite patient. I'm not going to get drawn into this, that if I go to the Masters and I don't win there's a failure in that, that it takes away in any way from the last two majors.
‘If you had told me I was going to miss the cut in the Masters and win it next year, I'd be very happy with that.’
