Harrington's conquering of adversity a major feat

Colin Byrne believes the manner of the Open champion's win has won him legendary status

WE LOOK back in order to get a better grasp of what may happen in the future. It is what we do, and nowhere is this truer than at a golf tournament. The defending champion is under scrutiny the moment he arrives at the site of defence, particularly at a major.

Pádraig Harrington in his inimitable way was not kicking back after his Irish PGA victory the previous weekend. He was, as ever, striving for improvement and that's when the much-documented impact-bag accident happened.

On reflection this was actually a perfect deflection from the endless questioning about the 136th British Open Championship and the zero speculation about whether he would win the 137th. The big question was would he be capable of holding onto a golf club on the first tee at 7.58am of the first round.

I am sure Pádraig would be the first to admit the focus and thus pressure had been instantly removed from all the pre-tournament preamble and with it any distraction of expectation to be the 137th Open Champion. Until the very last moment when he stepped onto the tee at Birkdale where he offered the starter his left hand to shake instead of his injured right hand, the notional pressure had been diverted. The pressure was reapplied as soon as he hit his opening shot.

Almost all contenders at a major will prepare more diligently for one of the big ones. Apart from being an indication of intent, the courses by their difficult nature require some extra attention. The year's schedules for many players are built around peaking for the majors.

For Pádraig, to have played only nine holes of practice for this year's Open because of his weakened wrist would be the most minimalist approach, for a man who maximises every aspect of his preparation in his quest for success, that he ever adopted.

In fact it is the complete opposite approach to what arguably resulted in Harrington running second in so many events in the early part of the new millennium. Many contended he was so exhausted from his painstaking preparation that he had nothing left, either physically or mentally, by the time he came to the back nine on Sunday.

Harrington was like a spring chicken playing the back nine last weekend in Birkdale. Instead of just trying to hang on as leader over the closing holes he played a succession of world-beating shots that would have overtaken any challenger doing handstands.

There is no point in peaking on Wednesday afternoon in a practice round. Of course Pádraig's ideal preparation happened quite by chance because of the gym injury. Bad luck or good luck? Zen philosophy would suggest that you reserve judgment until after the event.

Of course nobody would have predicted the strength of the relentless gale that blew over the Birkdale links last week. This also worked in Pádraig's favour as the nature of the course completely changed from the relative calm of the practice days. He hadn't practised, so to him it was normal.

There were two aspects of Pádraig's short game, which I know have come from decades of hard graft, that put him in position to win this year's Open. His relentless ability to get up and down from 80 yards was most impressive. Then his chipping from the fringe of the green was both unique and deadly. Where most players would putt on a links course around the green he almost always elected to chip with great accuracy.

Harrington is now rightly moving into legendary status in the world of professional golf.

It is only legends who would take the adversity of an injury so close to a major event and somehow use it to his advantage. Pádraig did.