Padraig Harrington is anticipating a tougher putting test than the Masters at this week's US Open at Pinehurst. The Irishman believes the small dome-shaped greens at the North Carolina course will be more difficult than Augusta's slick, sloping surfaces.
"Augusta is definitely a lot more generous than here," said the 33-year-old. "The ball tends to sweep into the pins at Augusta.
"Here it's always running away from them. I would say this is very tough."
The world number 11 added: "The greens here are very firm and very small, and the target areas are very small. It's not really like Augusta around the greens.
"There may be little target areas on the green but the ball rolls off them rather than on to them, so there are very small areas to aim at. Anywhere on the actual top surface of the green is all you're looking for."
 |  I'm certainly no more confident going into this US Open than I would be at any time in the past |
Harrington also pointed to Pinehurst's treacherous rough as a key factor this week.
"I was here a month ago and there was very light rough and I really enjoyed the course playing that way," he said. "It was a lot of fun.
"Now the rough is three inches and it's as deep as you'd ever want rough to be. It's much more of a test and there's a certain amount of pressure on every tee box to hit the fairway."
Harrington has had three top-10 finishes in his last five US Open starts and became Ireland's first winner on the PGA Tour when he beat Vijay Singh in a play-off for the Honda Classic in March.
But he played down his chances of winning a first major at Pinehurst.
"I still have my own fears of what I need to do and I'm certainly no more confident going into this US Open than I would be at any time in the past," he said.
"Having said that, though, I was pretty comfortable coming into this year and it was nice to win at the Honda Classic. It came at a good time.
"I suppose deep down there must be some confidence from it."
MMIX
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