137TH BRITISH OPEN THE CROWNING OF A BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPION:Edited transcript of Pádraig Harrington's champion's press conference at Royal Birkdale yesterday
Q: When did it finally start to sink in that you were Open champion again?
A: It did start to sink in a bit during the night. I think when you win it for the first time, it's a real high and the way it happened was very exciting. This time round it was more of a determined effort, more satisfying and in many ways more rewarding. To have done it back-to-back is very special. To have two Majors is very special but I think it was most satisfying to go out in the last group and perform when I needed to. Playing the golf in the final round of a Major when it's put up to you is a nice confidence-booster.
Q: You wife, Caroline, was telling us last night that you are driven by fear and that's why you put so much time into practice, that when you take time off in winter and go back, there's a part of you wonders if you've still got it. Even after all this do you fear you'll wake up one day and it'll be gone?
A: Fear has always been a motivating factor in my golf. I have spent some time talking with Bob Rotella about this. Fear can be quite a negative emotion to use to push you on. This is my 12th year on Tour and certainly for eight or nine years, every time I took my winter break, I was very anxious I would come out and it would still be there. You can still see that my results are always good at the start of the year because I'm anxious to get out there and prove myself again. I think I have become more comfortable over the last number of years that a certain level of my game would be there. But, definitely, I think winning a Major last year, the biggest feat was not to go down the road of guys who won Majors and struggled to keep the intensity after that. Yes, fear is a big part of me. I'd like to say I have all the trust and patience and be nice and relaxed but that's not my make-up. Fear pushes me on and keeps me practising and keeps me going to the gym. So I work with it and use it.
Q: How long did the party go on for last night and can you tell us if you've had any special phone calls or emails?
A: I went to the IMG House. IMG, my management company, have a hospitality house where all the players go round and eat during the week. I don't know if it's tradition now but they throw a party on Sunday night for the winner anyway. There was a good crowd in there last night. I think I was last out of the place at 4am so we had a very good night . . . a lot of friends there. It was a nice night. Not over the top. John Smith's Smooth Bitter was the first drink we drank out of the Claret Jug again. I did empty the Claret Jug at the end of the night and there was some claret in it at that stage. So the right drink got into it eventually. I haven't looked at the emails yet. I've had over 100 text messages. I got a phone call from the President. A few funny ones - but I ain't telling you those ones. I haven't got through them all.
Q: Is it possible to give us an idea of the amount of time that you spent in Largs (Scotland) with your coach Bob Torrance over the past year?
A: You know what, I must be moving up in the world. The only time I went to Largs since last year was to bring the trophy over for two days last December for the other guys I meet over there. Bob and June like to come over to me to see Paddy and Ciarán so they come over to me for two days during every period of time I take off. We kind of get in three sessions every day: morning, afternoon and evening. It kind of works very well because of the schedule I've been keeping around the world.
It's been a little bit easier on me for Bob and June to come to Dublin. They get to see the kids as well, which works well.
Q: It's a whole lot of hours?
A: You've got to put the time in away from the golf course. That's one of the things that has helped me. I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years working on my game and in that time I have developed a routine in making sure I do as much of that work as I can away from the tournaments. It means I get to the tournaments and try and keep it to the minimum, rather than turning up maybe in past years and nearly always working on my game for the following week and play for that week.
Q: What is it about Bob?
A: As far as I am concerned, Bob is the best swing coach in the world. He can tell everything that's going on in a golf swing and what consequences that has. He has studied every swing out there and his knowledge of the sequence of the swing and what needs to change first in order to change something else is second to none. It's not just about putting a golf club into position. It's about creating something that creates those positions and through his experience, he has spent his whole life examining the golf swings everyone has got. Obviously, I have total trust in what he says to me but if you really want to see his genius you have to see him analyse any golf swing and he'll tell you what a player is capable of doing and what he can't do in terms of how he goes about changing his swing. We can see somebody working on something and I'll say it to Bob and he'll say, well, this is going to cause this in his swing and that is going to happen, and he can go through the whole sequence because he has studied everybody's golf swing and he has spent his lifetime looking at them. His knowledge of the cause and effect in a golf swing is just incredible. I've done some work in the States and with Paul Hurrion on biomechanics and it's amazing how anything Bob says fits straight into the computer program of how technically you are meant to swing a golf club. So it's interesting to have the eye of the genius matching up with what the computers say.
Q: It was at the Olympic club in 1998 you decided you needed to change your game to be able to contend in the majors . . . What do you think is possible now?
A: That's going to be for during the week. Winning the first major was a real 'wow, incredible'. The reaction after that was, now, I've won one Major, let's try and set yourself apart and win two. Now I've got two, I've now got to think, I'm in a different club now, what's the next step? What's the next grouping of players? I will have time to think of that over the next week and set some new goals. The goal for the last year was to win another Major and I'm thrilled that it has come so quick. Definitely now I'll have to look to see what is out there. There are some very exclusive clubs in golf. Somewhere along the line I'll have to look at those and focus on joining those clubs of players who have won three Majors. I suppose that is first. Obviously, to win a different Major is another category. Then to win another three categories of Major. There's always a level to move up to and I've got to try to keep myself pushing forward. Whether I succeed in doing it or not, you've got to make sure you've got clear goals. Some are attainable and some are well out there but you've got to keep pushing on.
Q: Do you ever look back on that putt going in against Sergio and think things could all be so different?
A: I'm realistic enough to believe the twin impostors of success and failure are always a hair's breadth apart. The difference from a putt going in and not going is amazing. And no more so than in that one second. You could look at the round yesterday and maybe if Greg got up and down at the first and I didn't get up and down, he would have had the momentum to carry on and instead I had it. We will never fully know that. But in Sergio's case we do have an answer because if his putt did drop, he won the Open. That fact that it didn't drop, I won the Open as it turned out. It is clearer there.
Q: Why is it that you are now winning more tournaments when you get into contention?
A: I have to look at it like this and I think everybody has to look at it like this. It is about averages. Get yourself in position enough times and it will fall on the right side for you some of the time and the wrong side other times. But the key is to continue to get yourself into position.
I have seen it over the years where I have played great in tournaments and through no fault of my own, I have finished second. And I have seen where I messed up and finished second. And over those tournaments I have had to sit there and try and make some sense of it and I think towards the latter end of it I came to the conclusion - I had a lot of long chats with just about everybody, Bob Rotella, my brother Tadhg - discussing the merits of why me, why didn't I win this tournament? We eventually came to the conclusion that it is just a question of averages and keeping yourself in those positions and one day you will hole that 10-footer on the last to get into the play-off and the next day it doesn't go in and you lose the tournament. You can't control everything in golf and that is probably the key thing. You can get yourself into position but you can't control all the breaks and you have to realise that like yesterday, things go for you and you are the champion. On other days, you will fight as hard as you can and it just won't happen. I thought Greg Norman played well yesterday and it just didn't happen for him. It drifted away from him. He got a terrible start without doing anything wrong and the momentum was all with me. I chip and putt on the first and that kicked me off. You just don't know how much that affects the rest of the day. It is all about averages.
Q: Is it true that you injured your wrist when hitting a driver into what was basically a large bean bag? I've seen you hitting clubs one-handed, with right hand and left . . . hitting the ball standing on one foot . . . Is there a day we'll see you hitting clubs standing on your head?
A: If you practise a lot, you will find ways of practising to keep it entertaining, to keep it moving on. The more time you spend practising, the more drills and little things you come up with. One-handed practising is something I was brought up and told to do. Henry Cotton supposedly hit it 250 yards left-handed. He recommended hitting a tyre. I think that is too hard. Sure I hit into a bean bag and hurt my hand. I think I will be lightening that bean bag.
I have a friend who I grew up playing golf with (Kitt Flood) who I have an on-running competition with this year. I think he is a two-handicap. I have a competition that I can beat him one-handed against his two hands in a long-driving competition. So that just keeps me entertained. I have another bet with somebody that I can break 170 ball speed. I reckon that I can break 180 ball speed one-handed. It is just entertainment, keeping me going. But there is a little practicality behind it, working on strengthening my right side and my left side and working on the speed of my right side and left side. Everything has a purpose. The only time I practise anything, as silly as it may look, is to try and improve my golf. I never waste any time. It is always about improving my golf. So I feel those one-handed shots help me to become a better player.
Q: In your opinion, what club won the Open this week for you?
A: I changed four clubs from last year. I put in two new Wilson wedges. Saw them for the first time two weeks ago and put them straight in the bag. TW9 wedges and they were superb - a lob wedge and a sand wedge and they worked great. Lob wedge was a bit more traditional a look and has a bit more bounce on it for the bunkers so it proved a success. But the big plus this week in terms of my clubs was I put in two Ci7 irons, the ones I won in Morocco with. A couple of weeks ago I was having a friendly game with Ronan (Flood, caddie) and a few guys. We were on a par three and I hit this long iron in there. It has flown in there okay. But he stood up behind me with his four iron and hit this thing in there with a much better flight. He was so comfortable hitting the Ci7s that I thought, what am I doing. I have got to get these clubs in the bag. They paid such dividends this week. I used the three and the four irons and they were just so easy to hit. It is incredible how well they went. When I won in Morocco, I hit them great but at times too powerful. I was thinking, if I was playing in windy conditions I would be using a full set of them. No better golf club have I seen in terms of striking and the ability to go through the wind. But that made a huge difference, putting that three iron in this week, especially for off the tee. The three and four iron probably made the difference this week, no doubt about that.
All my golf clubs behaved lovely. I thought I putted very well, although I had a number of three-putts. I thought conditions were very difficult for putting. I think, the shot of week is going to have to be the five wood on 17. When you hit the shot of the week, it is great when you go to probably your favourite golf club in the bag, when you are in that sort of situation. Maybe if I was 10 or 15 yards closer and had to hit a long iron off a downslope it might not have been as easy. But the number just fell perfect for me to hit a five-wood off that downslope and I suppose that is what happens when you are winning.
Q: Are there any particular memories of the trophy you have from last year that you would like to repeat again?
A: I am going to cherish it again this year. It was great having it for a year. It was tough giving it back so I am going to enjoy it even more this year. I did have a call from the guy I am having the two-handed versus one-handed challenge with. He is one of the lads out in San Francisco. I did promise that we would hunt down that taxi driver with the golf glove and the Golf in the Kingdom book and just show him the trophy. That is about the only thing I've thought of doing with the trophy so far. But I think the breakfast table is looking for it back. It has got a little spot worn on the table and I think it will go very nicely there for another year. It is a little shinier but we will probably take the gloss off that with the amount of people that are going to handle it in the next year.
THE KEY SHOT: SECOND TO THE 17th
Five-wood approach to the 17th to set up eagle
"I'd got 220 yards to the front (of the green), 249 to the pin. My caddie (Ronan Flood) said to me, 'you know, if you want to think of laying up . . .' and I asked him the situation. He said, 'you're two ahead'. I just felt, I knew I could make birdie if I hit five-wood. I knew that was going to make me (the champion).
I was anxious that Greg (Norman) could make eagle going down there and if I made lay-up and I make par, all of a sudden I've got a one-shot lead
. . . I wasn't so much worried about the guy who was two shots behind me and finished, being Ian Poulter, it was more I was worried if I laid up and made par I was giving Greg a great chance to get within one shot of me and one shot is not comfortable in any shape or form going down 18. So I wanted to take it on. The downslope, I convinced myself, as you can when you're winning tournaments, was a help to me. My ball was on quite a hanging lie and I said, 'this is great, it is going to come out low so I can't get it in the air'.
The only thing I knew was a problem was if I put the ball up in the air for a long time. It could obviously find its way into the trouble on the right, or I could maybe get it into the trouble on the left. But a low shot, I felt, was always going to be an advantage. So the downslope, I used it in my favour. It came out nice and low. Once I hit it, it was perfect. It's one of the few times I think I've ever heard my caddie say 'good shot' before the ball is finished . . . it was a real bonus, obviously, to finish three feet away.
You know, you can't have enough shots in the lead going down 18. I proved that last year. So I was making sure to hole that (eagle putt) and take my four-shot lead, and it helped me enjoy the last hole."
