Harrington upbeat about winning FedEx Cup in Atlanta

Irish golf star says he has a 'reasonable' chance of winning after tough year

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After a short but enjoyable trip home I am back in the US for the final leg of the FedEx Cup playoff events.

It is Tour Championship week which means that we are in Atlanta, the home of Coca Cola who sponsor the event.

I missed out on the Tour Championship last year because I played poorly in the playoffs; this year I had a relatively poor year but played well in the last five events and now have a reasonable chance of winning the FedEx Cup.

I traveled on Monday as I have played here a number of times and know the course quite well.

We ended up flying in to Atlanta in the middle of the worst storms for a long time; they have had nearly 25 inches of rain in the past week.

It was so bad when we were arriving that we were sent to Nashville and then back to Atlanta once the weather had past. It was a long day traveling as a result of the delay; I was happy to get to my hotel and get some sleep.

The weather was so bad that the course was closed on Monday so it worked out great the fact I traveled on Monday as I wouldn’t have been able to practice anyway.

The course was closed until noon on Tuesday so that the greens staff could repair the damage that the rain had done. I did some work with Bob Rotella in the morning before the course opened and then I played 13 holes with Brian Gay.

I was amazed when I got out on the course to see how dry it was; the fairways were a little wet but nothing too bad and the greens were bone dry. A couple of years ago they put in a sub-air system under the greens, similar to Augusta, which means that they can dry the greens by sucking the moisture out of them.

Playing the course after all this rain and to see how firm the greens are it is a great advertisement for the sub-air system. The course is playing long as the ball is not running on the fairways but other than that it is in very good shape. T

here is no pro-am at this event as the sponsors prefer us to do a clinic, or breakfast meeting or else a dinner. I always enjoy the pro-am and would prefer to play in one but I have done well in a lot of tournaments that don’t have them as well.

I took it easy in the morning and then did some more work with Bob before playing the back nine with Luke Donald. The back nine has had some length added to it since I played here two years ago. It played tougher than I remember, especially as the greens are firm.

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