PADRAIG HARRINGTON
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America may be wooing Europe’s golfers with big-buck prize money but Open champion Padraig Harrington tells Neil Squires there’s nothing like playing the courses you grew up with
As a standard-bearer for European golf, Padraig Harrington makes for an interesting case study. The man who ended the eight-year wait for a major winner in impossibly dramatic circumstances at Carnoustie in July is a product of the amateur system in Ireland, a bedrock of the successful Ryder Cup teams of recent years and an Order of Merit winner on the European Tour.
The awkward fact for those who champion Harrington as Europe’s white knight after the play-off victory over Sergio Garcia, though, is that the Open Championship was only the fifth event he has played on his home patch all year.
Harrington, like a gaggle of other influential Europeans, had chosen to play much of his golf in the United States this year, where restaurant portions are supersize and the prize money is too. The FedEx Cup, which climaxed in September, carried with it an almost obscene pay cheque of $10m for the winner.
Having seen Harrington’s recent success, the temptation for other Europeans would be to follow in his footsteps and turn the trickle across the Atlantic into a flood. If it helped turn a self-confessed journeyman into an Open champion, it should work for them. Right?
Wrong. Harrington’s view is that there are many paths up the mountain and that the more twisting European circuit is just as effective as any eight-lane American super-highway.
“Every player has to look at his own way of doing things and I have been playing in the States, but more than anything I think winning the Open came down to my instincts for playing links golf from being an amateur growing up here,” says the 36-year-old Dubliner.
“It was definitely all my years of playing in Europe and the experience I’ve had of winning here that helped me. I don’t know how many wins I’ve had – 15 or 16 – but most of them have come on the European Tour and there is nothing like having done it before.
“Being the Open champion carries responsibility and it does mean you play more than perhaps you should, but I would suggest I’ll play more in Europe in future, not less. I certainly have no intention of reducing my European Tour schedule. I think the European Tour is strong – there is masses of money here, too. These things will level themselves out after a while.”
That view should come as a relief for golf in Europe. Harrington’s gently spoken words carry an almost Messianic power, having delivered the fabled missing major. He is the man who has knocked down the wall for others to come surging through. The domino effect happened before when Seve Ballesteros won the 1979 Open at Lytham, heralding a golden era for European golf, and Harrington is optimistic that something similar will occur this time.
“I hope that it has a positive impact on European golf. I do believe very much that it will inspire the other players. The European golfers know my game and what it is like and they know their game compared to mine. The fact that I’ve done it will make a lot of them believe they can do it, too” says Harrington.
“I don’t believe I am an intimidating force for a lot of the younger Europeans. They know if they play their golf they can compete with me. They know that if I have won a major they can do it.
“Seve was exceptional but for Ian Woosnam or Sandy Lyle seeing him break through must have made them think they were capable of following him. It’s good for visualisation – if you can see a friend doing it you can say ‘yes, I can go do it.’ European golf is very strong – we’ve proved in the Ryder Cup that there are good players out there.
“This may be the start and if it is I’ll be telling everybody I started it off. Hopefully I and some of the others will win more majors and carry the European flag well.”
In golf’s overcrowded and faintly loopy calendar, the 2008 season starts before 2007 finishes. No sooner will Harrington’s successor as the Order of Merit winner be crowned at Valderrama in November than the race for Ryder Cup qualification points will be on.
For most golf fans Europe’s attempt to win a fourth successive trans-Atlantic dust-up next September will be the highlight of their sporting year. The chemistry is certainly more unpredictable than it has been in previous years under captain Nick Faldo.
His pre-Open comments about the Europeans being too “chummy” to win majors exploded in his face at Carnoustie. Harrington, who will be one of Europe’s key men in Kentucky, is living proof that there are other types of winners in a largely individual sport other than driven loners like Faldo.
“I work really hard and I want to win but I like the positive idea of wishing people well and not wishing them bad. I work hard at having a competitive instinct but I’ve always been a believer that you can be a nice guy and win,” said Harrington. “My competitor on the golf course is always me. I’m always trying to win the battle with myself. I always want my partners to play well to bring me along.
“One of my first lessons by my Irish teaching pro was to never tell anybody anything – they’ll go out and beat you with that information. I don’t live by that. If I’ve got a friend and he’s struggling, I would give him some advice if I could.”
This philosophy is part of the reason why Harrington’s phone was clogged with messages of congratulation from his European team mates – and rivals – in the hours immediately following his Open win.
Harrington does have one thing in common with Faldo, however. Renowned as a fitness fanatic with a relentless practice schedule, he squeezes every drop of ability out of himself.
“My idols have not necessarily been the unbelievably talented ones but the guys who have worked hard at their game and got the most out of their talent,” he says.
“Ben Hogan went from being a struggling professional to being probably the best ball striker of all time and definitely one of the best players of all time. That’s someone I would consider a role model. The more I hear about him the more I appreciate him. There was a lot more than just his ability to swing a golf club – his mental skills were also strong.”
He may not finish with the nine majors Hogan won or the six Faldo managed, but with his one at Carnoustie, Harrington has set the standard for the next generation of Europeans. It is up to the rest to follow.
The Volvo Masters Andalucia, the final event of the PGA European Tour, takes place on 1-4 November at Valderrama Golf Club, Spain (fly to Málaga).
RUSH TO PADRAIG’S TOP COURSE
Padraig Harrington is a truly global golfer, having played in China, Abu Dhabi and across the US over the past year, but his favourite course remains close to home – Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
“It’s a course that gives you a great chance to play good golf but punishes you if don’t,” Harrington tells JetAway. “If you play well you can make birdie on every hole; if you play badly you will make double bogey. In that respect it’s a bit like Carnoustie or Augusta even. I just love the challenge it offers.”
Royal Portrush, which hosted the Open in 1951 – the only time it has been held away from the British mainland – is situated in County Antrim, an hour’s drive from Belfast. Jet2.com fly to Belfast from Leeds/Bradford and Blackpool. www.royalportrushgolfclub.com
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