Harrington and Torrance work on his swing at Turnberry in 2009. They didn’t see eye to eye then and still don’t.A desperate Padraig Harrington made one of the toughest decisions of his career in Killarney yesterday when he decided to part company with veteran coach Bob Torrance.

The frustrated three-time major winner, 39, has slumped from third to 64th in the world since his US PGA win three years ago, suffering his sixth missed cut of the season in this week’s Irish Open.

He admitted on Friday that he needed to make changes but ruled out sacking members of his back up team. But within 24 hours the architect of his success was out in the cold - Harrington says temporarily - and wondering what had just happened.

Padraig Harrington bounced back from his missed cut in last week’s Northern Trust Open when he carded a three under par 69 in the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at Spyglass Hill.

According to the PGA Tour statistics for the round, the world No 10 hit 50 percent of the greens in regulation, which does not suggest that he solved the technical problem that dogged him at Riviera.

Goods news for Harrington fans still recovering from this season's swing change slump. Padraig Harrington is bringing Bob Torrance to the Titleist Performance Institute in December.

While the Dubliner claims that he doesn't need or want to see Bob Torrance while he is at tournaments, his long absence from Europe at the start of the season and his confusion over the side effects brought about by a swing change run wild, culminated in his worst run of form for 13 years.

Turnberry 2009One of the most revealing moments of the season came at the Open in July, when Torrance and Harrington spent hours doing remedial work on the range. It was effectively the start of a new season. Harrington honed his neglected short game, cleared his mind of swing change confusion and the results have been stunning. 

So what the hell happened from December to late July?

Graeme McDowell looked more like a science experiment than a golfer. Wired up by the boffins from the Titleist Performance Institute (T.P.I.) so that his swing could be captured using the 3D-GOLF motion system and filed away for analysis, he put up with the jibes from his caddie Ken Comboy and nearby tour players like Daniel Chopra to take another tiny step forward in his career.