The siren call of history will sound for Padraig Harrington this afternoon when he steps on the first tee at Turnberry.

It really doesn't matter how well or poorly Ireland's three-times Major Champion has played in a season of baffling swing changes, missed cuts and intense frustration.

Or that Harrington himself plays down the personal significance of this week's date with destiny.

In bidding to become the first man to complete a hat-trick of Open titles since Australian Peter Thomson in 1956, Harrington joins an elite band of brothers in world golf.

Just four other men have had this rare opportunity in the modern era, Arnold Palmer in 1963, Lee Trevino 10 years later, Tom Watson in 1984 and Tiger Woods at Carnoustie in 2007.

All of them failed, Watson going closest in '84, when he finished in a tie for second place behind Seve Ballesteros at St Andrews.

By his own admission, Harrington will venture out more in hope than confidence today onto a Turnberry links which places so much emphasis on flawless ball-striking and precise shot-making.

The calibre of the three men crowned Open Champion here and the way in which those victories were achieved copper-fastened Turnberry's reputation as one of the fairest and most cerebral challenges on the Open rota.

To this day, Watson's 1977 'Duel in the Sun' with Jack Nicklaus stands as prominent in Open history as the famous old Turnberry lighthouse itself.

In 1986, Greg Norman's defiance in the face of punishing weather conditions was nothing short of staggering. The second round 63 he posted in a maelstrom was described by Watson yesterday as “incredible, probably one of the finest in history — and Greg three-putted the final two holes that day.”

Like Norman and Watson, Nick Price was the standout player in world golf in the summer of '94 when he completed 72 holes here in 268 strokes, at 12-under par, the same winning score as that posted by Watson 17 years earlier.

The message is clear. Turnberry has the penchant of sorting out the best from the rest and, if the weather doesn't turn too nasty over the next four days, we can all brace ourselves for a thrill-a-minute feast of birdies and, given the depth of the its rough, absolute bedlam.

Sadly, this generation of golf enthusiasts is not as well-blessed as their forebears in the 70's, when Jack Nicklaus, then the greatest player of all time, was blessed a succession of rivals capable of keeping him honest.

We dared think as Harrington won back-to-back at Birkdale and Oakland Hills last summer that he might throw down the gauntlet to Tiger Woods.

For a variety of reasons, it hasn't happened this year. So Woods, with three wins on the PGA Tour since his return from injury last February, is likely to parade around unchallenged if he produces a performance as strategically inspired and tactically brilliant as at Hoylake in 2006, the most recent of his three Open victories.

On that occasion, Woods famously used his driver just once in 72 holes, due more to dry weather conditions and fast-running fairways at Royal Liverpool than anything else.

Tiger's almost certain to let the big dog off the leash between three and six times each day, depending on the wind, but the challenge he faces at Turnberry is very similar to that of Hoylake. If all that one-handed putting practice he's been doing this week restores his rhythm and feel on the greens, then Woods will be unstoppable.

Sadly, Harrington's recent form inspires little confidence in his prospects of lifting the Claret Jug for a third year in success.

The first rule of survival at Turnberry this week is to consistently find the fairway and it's not going to matter how well Harrington is putting right now or how inspired his short game might be if he has to go looking for his tee shots in the long grass.

If Harrington's swing holds together and he manages to get himself to the back nine on Sunday with even the faintest whiff of a chance, he'd be a force even for Tiger to fear.

However, it is fanciful to expect a man who has missed eight cuts in 15 events on Tour this year to rediscover the magic formula in one of the most exacting arenas of them all.

For all that, the draw might help Harrington on the opening two days of this championship. Due out late this afternoon, he should be safely in the clubhouse tomorrow afternoon when winds gusting up to 25 mph are expected to sweep in from the northwest.

Should that forecast prove correct, Rory McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Damien McGrane and David Higgins are also likely to profit. while it could prove an ill wind for Graeme Mc Dowell and Darren Clarke on the other side of the timesheet.

Potentially, this could be a memorable week for McDowell, McIlroy and Clarke with tens of thousands of their fellow Ulstermen expected to make the short sea-crossing to Scotland for this week's Open.

McIlroy will not be the least bit perturbed by the weight of expectation heaped on his shoulders at this championship. As he proved as an amateur at Carnoustie two years ago and on his first visit to the US Masters and the US Open this season, the Holywood youngster visibly flourishes in the big-time atmosphere at The Majors.

So it's certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility this weekend for McIlroy to join Tiger in history as the only man to pocket the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open and then go on to lift the Claret Jug as a professional.