Pádraig Harrington(1994) and Rory McIlroy(2005) gave early indications of their outstanding talent with their victories in the West of Ireland championship at Rosses Point, Co Sligo. Today they will compete in the WCG-Accenture Matchplay Championship in Marana, Arizona.
Harrington finds winning formula
THE NEWLY-crowned West of Ireland champion, Pádraig Harrington (Stackstown), who defeated Ken Kearney (Co Sligo) by two holes in the final at Rosses Point yesterday, later revealed the secret behind his success, his first senior championship triumph.
The 22-year-old Walker Cup player declared publicly for the first time that he had enlisted the help of a sports psychiatrist, Dr Aidan Moran, a dietician, Lillian Rafter, and a physiotherapist, Alan Kelly, during the past year in his efforts to improve performances.
“They were a great help to me, especially Dr Moran, who has sorted out my difficulties with maintaining concentration. They have given me a lot of confidence,” he said. “I also changed my swing during the winter, turning my shoulders 90 degrees, with the result that I am now hitting the ball higher,” Harrington added.
Harrington, beaten by Darren Clarke in the 1990 Irish Close final and by Garth McGimpsey in the North of Ireland decider last year, produced an extraordinary comeback. Four down after nine, he won seven of the homeward holes for an amazing victory.
“I wasn’t nervous. I drove the ball well, but Ken did not make any mistakes in any of the opening nine holes. Winning the 10th gave me hope. Interestingly, I was well down in the early stages of my previous two finals as well. I am absolutely thrilled. It has not really sunk in yet,” Harrington declared.
Such an ending looked very remote indeed as Kearney, the 1992 winner, made a blistering start in benign conditions. Birdies at the first and fifth holes produced wins for the Connacht player, who also captured the fourth and eighth in regulation to carry a commanding four-hole lead into the inward leg of the journey.
Harrington needed the boost of winning a couple of holes to get back into the match and prevent the final from becoming a procession. He received it at the 10th, where Kearney’s approach went over the back and he was unable to hole a six-footer for a half.
Kearney, then, found himself with an impossible lie to the right of the next green, been unable to move the ball more than a yard with his third stroke and eventually conceding the hole to his opponent, who stood six feet from the pin in three. Harrington cut the lead again on the 12th when he bagged a super birdie from six feet, as Kearney missed from 25 feet. Suddenly the lead was whittled to just one. A seemingly predictable final was in the middle of being turned on its head.
The contestants were level after the 14th, which Harrington won in par, nursing a 40-footer to a foot. Kearney’s 14-foot putt, across the sloping green, just passed by. Harrington won the next two holes as well to go dormie, taking the 15th in birdie, holing from 18 feet, and the 16th in par, after Kearney found sand and saw a 10-footer stay on the lip.
While the advantage swung his way, Harrington still needed to go down the last after Kearney sensationally birdied the 414-metre 17th, hitting a four-wood to 10 feet and sinking the putt to be one behind playing the final hole.
Kearney over-hit the last green, however, and missed a 12-foot par putt to concede the title to Harrington, who was pin high in two.
It may have taken four-and-a-half hours to complete the match, but few in the big galleries complained, especially the Stackstown contingent, who celebrated a famous victory.
Final:P Harrington (Stackstown) bt K Kearney (Co Sligo) two holes.
McIlroy confirms rich promise
THE VERDANT fairways and greens of Co Sligo Golf Club provided a suitably lush backdrop to frame the coronation of Irish amateur golf’s most prized asset.
In claiming the Standard Life West of Ireland Championship, 15-year-old Rory McIlroy became the youngest person to take the title and delivered on the pedigree and potential suggested in his superb underage record in golf. It was not simply the victory itself – the final instalment a two and one victory over 38-year-old Mallow jeweller David Finn – but the manner of the triumph that was arguably more impressive.
The Holywood teenager didn’t chalk up six victories on the strength of stunning technique but rather more diverse qualities. He demonstrated imagination, character and maturity to complement his golf game.
There was a relentless coursing of his opponents or conversely the nerve of a grizzled gun fighter, who refuses to blink no matter how perilous the situation. In the round of the last 16 he had to hole a 20-foot birdie putt on the home green against Alan Glynn just to take the match up tie holes.
There were no such heroics yesterday, although neither his semi-final victory over Banbridge’s Rory Leonard, only decided on the 18th green when his par was good enough for a 1-up success, or the final itself, could be considered straight forward.
McIlroy’s appeal was manifest in the large gallery of about 1,200 people that stampeded untethered over the Rosses Point links, drawing favourable comparison with the attendances in the Joe Carr era. A rope or two mightn’t have gone astray to coral the enthusiastic supporters whose only concern was to grab the best vantage point irrespective of how it impacted on the players. The combatants often lost sight of the ball as the curtain of people closed in front of them.
Finn jumped into a two-hole lead early in the final, three birdies in the first six holes underlining the quality of his golf. He would miss just two fairways on the outward nine. McIlroy though refused to buckle and was level by the 10th. The see-saw nature of the contest was illustrated in the fact that the next four holes were traded equally; pars and three bogeys highlighted the tense nature of the proceedings.
Finn would later observe. “I just went out to play the game and did so for nine holes. On the back nine I lost my rhythm a little bit and started to struggle. That three-foot putt on 16 was a slider and I just over-hit it.”
The last reference outlines Finn’s failure to get up and down for par at the par-three, 16th and that nudged his opponent into a one-hole lead. The Mallow man didn’t hit in regulation one of the par three greens.
The match was over at the 17th, McIlroy’s eight-foot par putt sufficing to win both the hole and the championship.
“I can’t really describe the feeling. To win a major championship in Ireland at 15 is awesome. It’s definitely the best thing I’ve done in golf. I played so well the whole week. The last two or three matches were really tight. I was just striking it so well and putting guys under pressure and that is why I came through in the end.”
McIlroy’s ambition this season is to make the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team that takes on the Americans at Chicago Golf Club from August 13th-14th. The feat, if achieved would make him the youngest ever player to participate on either side, eclipsing Justin Rose’s mark of 17 years and 10 days.
In reference to joining the paid ranks McIlroy believes his game is good enough but isn’t in any rush.
“I don’t think I’ll turn too young. I’m not going to turn at 16 or 17. I might turn when I am 18. It’ll definitely not be as young as Justin Rose.”
His schedule this year will include the Lytham Trophy, Irish Amateur, Irish Close, St Andrews Links, and British Amateur among others. He also plans to take up an invitation to the British Masters at the Forest of Arden.
Having confirmed that, the personable young man rejoined his parents Gerry (he caddied all week for his son) and Rosie and considered putting through a call to Darren Clarke to rib him about never having won the West in his amateur career. Clarke’s influence on the young McIlroy is perhaps most evident in the trousers the latter wore, hand-made by the Dungannon man’s tailor in London. Though for McIlroy owning more than one pair might take a few years. On the evidence of his career to date it’s just a matter of time.
