Pádraig Harrington paid a flying visit to Graceland before leaving Memphis for Pittsburgh. Karl MacGinty tracked him from Southwind to Oakmont and discovered the Irish ace is ready to get us ‘All Shook Up’ at the US Open

MISSING the cut at The Stanford St Jude Championship probably was more of a blessing than a devil in disguise for Pádraig Harrington.

For a start, it gave him and his family an opportunity to go on a guided tour of Graceland, the palatial former home of Elvis, King of Rock and Roll.

Elvis died in August 1977, a fortnight before Harrington's sixth birthday, so the Dubliner could not be expected to have any Elvis 'records' on the juke box at his Rathmichael home.

However, with 500,000 visitors a year, Graceland is America's Canterbury and Camelot rolled into one and on Saturday afternoon Harrington was drawn across its threshold more by curiosity than anything else.

"It's a world-famous attraction and I'm delighted I got the chance to see it," explained the Dubliner before he boarded a flight for Pittsburgh, where this week's US Open will be played at another American monument to excess - the sadistically difficult golf course at Oakmont.