THE MASTERS:NOBODY – literally nobody – has won more Majors in the past five seasons than Pádraig Harrington. It doesn't seem that way.

Yesterday, the Dubliner, sufficiently old these days to be described as a “grizzled veteran” on the USPGA Tour’s own website since he turned 40, drove his GL 450 Mercedes into Augusta National Golf Club and, it’s fair to say, there wasn’t a bleep on the radar system.

There’s no doubt about it, Harrington is flying low on just about everybody’s radar heading into the 76th Masters tournament and, perhaps, that’s no harm. Tiger-mania. Rory-mania. Phil-mania. The “Paddy Slam” of 2009 seems like an age ago.

And yet, if only fleetingly, his recent opening round 61 in the Transitions tournament reawakened many to a talent that won three Majors in the space of 13 months – the 2007 and 2008 British Opens and the 2008 US PGA championships – but the three rounds that followed that mesmerising feat were nondescript and Harrington’s return to action in the Houston Open saw him leave town without any role to play in the final round.

What his early exit from Houston, which technically went down in the books as a cut made, allowed Harrington to do was to route his plane on a flight path to Augusta for an earlier arrival than anticipated.

No prizes for guessing where he could be found late on Sunday evening as darkness closed in: on the putting green! Putt after putt after putt.

On his own. In the dark.

Putting, as Harrington admitted yesterday as he talked and repeatedly swung a 54-degree wedge by the side of his courtesy SUV in the parking lot, has become his “Achilles heel”.

For someone known throughout his career as one of the most solid putters in the game, Harrington’s putting statistics on the US Tour – where he is ranked 123rd in putting – speak volumes for the part of his game that has been most inconsistent.

“Certain aspects of my game have never been better, lot’s of good stuff,” said Harrington, before conceding: “Putting is the most important element. It would be great to see, what that comes back, how things will be . . . the thing is, my putting stroke has been perfect. I’ve perfect roll. Perfect strike. Everything perfect. Put me on any of those machines, the pace of my stroke, the length, elevation, rhythm, strike. Everything is perfect.”

The perfect stroke, however, has not resulted in the ball finding the bottom of the tin cup as frequently as it could and, consequently, Harrington has spent hours on the putting green in search of whatever fix is required.

“When you’re putting badly and everything is perfect, where do you look for a problem? That’s the interesting part . . . I’ve putt my best over the years, and this is going to sound very weird, when fighting an element of your putting. Say for example when you’re worried about hitting a pull and you’re defending something. I haven’t had that.”

But Harrington hasn’t arrived in Augusta to simply make up the numbers.

This will be his 13th appearance in the Masters and, if that grizzled veteran status is a little misplaced, it does mean he has plenty of experience on the slick and undulating greens. Did he adhere to the notion of wear and tear as players grew older?

“There are some great putters on the Seniors Tour, so that’s rubbish. I do subscribe to the notion that you change as a player, in that you go from being fearless to experienced. But putting wise? Nah.

“I do feel I have moved from feeling like a rookie but I don’t feel like a grizzled veteran. I feel like I have maturity, that I’m in the middle of my career.”

In recent weeks, with Harrington’s fall down the world rankings to a current 96th, he has repeatedly had to answer questions about whether he was even in the field (on a point: he is exempt through to 2013 on the back of his 2008 Major wins) this week.

“I had to point out that nobody has won more Majors in the last five years than me. If we took this as a detached thing and we moved 25 years forward, I would be the player you’d say most likely to win because I’ve won the most Majors in recent history. I have to look on it like that. If I get on-form, I could be the man.

“I would love to win a Masters. The Masters is a tremendous examination and the reason for that is that is it harder to win on this golf course.

“I have come close in US Opens and I have won the other two. But then I have only been nervous once or twice in all 12 years here at Augusta when I’ve been nervous coming down the last few holes.

“It’s a tough track, it really is. Your distance control has to be really good and you have to putt and chip and drive it really well. But there is nothing I can do about . . . It’s not like I can turn up and wave a magic wand to say that I am going to win.

“I can only just play my game and do my thing and if happens, it happens.”