Padraig Harrington is an extraordinary ordinary guy. He carries his greatness lightly but is aware of its gentle presence. As the winds tugged at the flags of Turnberry and the din of workmen's hammers heralded the approach of another Open championship to the Ayrshire coast, the golfer who has won the Claret Jug in the past two years reflected on fame and how it is achieved.

"My profile has increased," he conceded. "For instance, I was driving on M25 on Tuesday and stopped at a service station. As I walked in, a lot of heads turned and you could see there were double-takes and you could hear people asking if it was me. That brings it home. People were wondering why I was in an M25 service station, but professional golfers who have won three Majors need to go to the toilet, too."

It was the mildest of protests. Harrington accepts fame but targets history. It is, again, in his sights at Turnberry. Harrington has added the USPGA to the Opens he won at Carnoustie and Birkdale. Now he will attempt to match only four other golfers by winning his third consecutive Open. Peter Thomson was the last to complete this feat, and that was 53 years ago. The others - Old Tom Morris, Jamie Anderson and Bob Ferguson - won their trebles in the 19th century.

Harrington will seek his hat trick on a course he has never played. Until yesterday, that is. The Irishman has in past years visited the venue of that year's Open two months before the championship at the behest of Wilson, his club manufacturers. These visits tend to coincide with the BMW PGA Championships at Wentworth, a course that is not to Harrington's liking.

The trips are hugely informative for the Open champion. It took him all of five minutes yesterday to learn his first lesson in how to play Turnberry. "The idea of being here two months in advance is that I have already seen a lot of shots that will come up on this golf course. I will practise those for the next two months, rather than come on the Monday before.

"First and foremost, the greens are elevated, so there are going to be a lot of chips from rough, across fairway on to greens. Had I not looked, I might have spent time practising chips from tight lies. Now I know to practise from soft, fluffy rough. Just being here five minutes gave me another angle for practice. That's something I will work on."

Harrington, too, will adjust the loft on his driver. "I know for links I need to hit it low and hold it up into wind," he said.

It was just the merest indication of the preparation that the Irishman undertakes before a major tournament. It does not make him popular with some sponsors. Harrington, who received the European Tour Players' Award this week, will not play in the BMW PGA championship that starts today.

He will also miss the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond the week before the Open.

Wentworth is shunned simply because it does not suit his game.

"I struggle on the course and find the greens difficult. It wasn't fitting in and changing my schedule was not a good idea," he said.

He learned a lesson in 2002 when Anders Hansen won with a total of 269, 19 under par. "I thought I played nicely, shot four-over and missed the cut," said Harrington. "If that was my first-ever tour event, I would have played well for four-over, seen the winning score and thought these guys are too good and said I'll just pack my bags'.

"Thankfully, I had played enough to know you have good and bad weeks and some courses suit and some don't. But if I'd had an invite and shot four-over, I would have thought that I would never be good enough to compete with these guys. Anders' 19-under, in relation to my score, was the most phenomenal score I had ever seen. I felt totally inadequate."

This is an emotion that is a stranger to him now. Harrington's quickfire run of three major successes has been the product of a growing inner confidence.

The Dubliner, who will shun the Scottish Open to play links golf at the Irish PGA in what has become his pre-Open routine, sees no need to deflect questions about his chances of a third consecutive Claret Jug. "I'm in with a great chance of doing it," he said with a blessed disregard to the impostor that is false modesty. "I feel my game will be ready and that is all I can ask for. Going and winning is not really in my control. But being ready for it is."

His successes at Carnoustie and Birkdale have given him a confidence that has the steady foundations of experience. "I know I can be in contention and, if I am in contention, I know I can go on and win from there," he said.

Harrington, as befits a serious player, has never played Turnberry as the course is not on the circuit of professional events. Light-hearted off the course, he plays for glory and cash. When Turnberry was last on the Open agenda in 1994, Harrington was sitting his accountancy examinations. The bottom line is that there has never been a professional tournament at Turnberry since and so Harrington has never felt the need to play the course.

He has, of course, spent a chunk of his professional life in Ayrshire as he is coached by Bob Torrance. "This is one course Bob comes and plays at 75 years of age," said Harrington. "He has talked about it, but I'm sure there is not a huge comparison between my game and Bob's at this stage, though he says he out-hits me. The course is close to Bob's heart, but any Open is special to him and he won't be fussed where I win."

The increased maturity of both Harrington and his game is shown by his recollection of Muirfield, which returns as Open host in 2013 and where he finished fifth behind Ernie Els in 2002.

"That was the best golf I have ever played in my life," he said simply. "I have never repeated what I did for 72 holes there. I haven't even come close, bar short periods. For 72 holes - bar four in a storm - I was in a majestic place. I'm looking forward to one day playing again as I did at Muirfield then. That's my goal."

Yet since those four days seven years ago, Harrington has earned more than £14m and won more than 20 events around the world. It is not enough.

The ordinary multiple-major winner still seeks the extraordinary.