Pádraig Harrington not standing on ceremony for latest Open bid
Pádraig Harrington during a practice round at Royal Portrush ahead of The 153rd Open Championship. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Pádraig Harrington has been given the honour of hitting the first shot at the 153rd Open Championship on Thursday. Already a two-time winner of this grand old event, the Dubliner is determined to hit the last as well come Sunday evening.
The job of opening these majors tends to go to players of an older vintage, guys once great who aren’t about to threaten the leaderboard come the thick end of the four days. Harrington’s competitive nature makes that impossible.
This isn’t a guy about to stand on ceremony.
"Look, my goal is to hit the first shot and the last shot this week,” he explained to a gathering of Irish media at the course on Wednesday lunchtime. “So that's, in my head, that's what I'm trying to do. That's what I'm thinking.
“I'm sure the bookmakers will tell you that's not a reality. But I have to prepare. If I get there on Sunday and get myself in contention, I have to prepare to be ready for that moment and see how that goes.”
The first shot he described as a “great honour”. It’s one he has declined in the past given his conviction that he can still claim a third Claret Jug but there was no hesitation I saying yes this time with the Open back on Irish soil for the second time in six years.
He is 53 now. There isn’t much the Harrington hasn’t seen or done in the game of golf by now but the prospect of getting this Championship underway at 6:35am on Thursday is one to get the butterflies going.
“Yes. Very nervous. It's not a comfortable tee shot for anybody. So yeah, there's a lot of nervous ones. I accepted it before I actually thought about the tee shot. Yeah. No, I'd be definitely very nervous about that tomorrow. Yeah.
“I'll be very comfortable with… Anything in play will do me,” he said with a smile. “I'll be doing a bit of posing after I hit. No matter how bad the shot is, I'll be holding my finish and pretending it's a good one.”
He comes to Portrush, a course he describes as his favourite in the world and one with a fine balance of risk and reward, just two weeks after claiming a second Senior US Open title, at Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
He felt his game went well there but for struggles on the greens. That switched last week at the Genesis Scottish Open where his putting was better but the rest of his game was off kilter in finishing tied for 71st.
“Look, I'm happier on one side of my game than I was then and maybe not as happy with how I'm hitting it. But you know, you don't really know until you've played a tournament on a Thursday. You're never really sure how you're going to play.
“So I have to prepare and hope. I'm finished for the day now, which is half-one on a Wednesday. I go home now and just assume that it's going to be in place. And then, by doing a bit of resting and that, getting a bit of physio, hopefully my head is in place tomorrow and I make the right decisions at the right time.”
