Harrington ready for a rough 'stress test'

GOLF IRISH PGA CHAMPIONSHIP : FOR PÁDRAIG Harrington, this is the final mock exam. After this, it’s the real thing

GOLF IRISH PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: FOR PÁDRAIG Harrington, this is the final mock exam. After this, it's the real thing. Yet, of this Ladbrokes Irish PGA Championship, barely a week before he sets about his quest to retain the claret jug for a third time, there is no doubt in the 37-year-old Dubliner's mind of just how important it is to rediscover a swing that has gone AWOL. The clock is ticking down.

“This week is more significant than it ever has been, that’s for sure. In all elements of the game it is an important week, more important than it normally would be,” confessed Harrington.

His candour is hardly misplaced, as he has endured his worst run of form on tour – five successive missed cuts on tour, on either side of the Atlantic – that leave many questions unanswered.

If he were to go any place on earth to finally get some answers, you suspect this would be it. The seaside terrain at The European Club at Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow possesses some of the most beautiful and devilishly difficult holes to be found anywhere and, for the past two years, it has proven to be the ideal preparation for Harrington’s assault on the British Open.

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In 2007 here, Harrington beat Brendan McGovern in a play-off and, lo and behold, won the Open at Carnoustie in a play-off over Sergio Garcia. Then, last year, Harrington triumphed by four shots here over Philip Walton and the following week had four strokes to spare over Ian Poulter at Royal Birkdale. No wonder he’s looking for some inspiration from this week, where the tournament is of far more importance than the €26,005 purse, with €4,000 to the winner.

Harrington, who utilised the extra free days he had off after missing the cut in last week’s French Open by playing two practice rounds at Turnberry, knows that the links here – with rough set up to the same standards as players will find in the British Open – offers a perfect examination.

As Pat Ruddy, the owner and designer of The European, put it yesterday in agreeing that he unashamedly sets up the course as per the Open, “there are two purposes. We are hosting the national championship, which is a great honour. And then the excitement, the fun and the challenge of perhaps helping minutely a great golfer get ready for a great event next week. It’s only logical . . . . when people are to run at altitude, they go high up to prepare. So this is a version of the same thing – to acclimatise a man, to get him ready.”

Harrington returned home from his reconnaissance visit to Turnberry believing it to have the heaviest rough he has experienced at a major. “As Peter Dawsons (of the RA) says, they don’t control it. That is what a links golf course is and it’s real. I’ve never seen rough as heavy so close to greens.”

What Harrington, and the other 119 players in the field, will discover over the next four days at the European Club is a course with rough comparable in toughness to that at Turnberry. “It’s important he (Harrington) has a good training ground and if anyone gets at him, they are worthy of getting at him. It’s a stress test, (and) stress-testing is part of life,” said Ruddy.

We shouldn’t for any minute believe this is a one-man show, though. As was proven two years ago when McGovern dug deep to bring him to extra holes and again last year where Walton pushed to the end, there’s quality in the field with the likes of David Higgins, who currently tops the Irish PGA region’s order of merit, Robert Giles (who won yesterday’s pro-am), Simon Thornton, Barrie Trainor, Damian Mooney, John Kelly and Eamonn Brady among those well capable of mounting a challenge.

For added spice, there’s also the fact that Marian Riordan will become the first woman to play in the Irish PGA championship, having come through the qualifying tournament. The odds of 500 to 1 placed on her by the sponsors, though, reflect the huge task that she faces.

But nobody can neglect the fact that virtually all eyes will be on Harrington. As Trainor observed when it was put to him that there were probably 20 or so genuine challengers. “Yes . . . Harrington, Harrington, Harrington, Harrington . . . . ” Yet, there is also the incentive for every other player to try to take down a triple major champion in their own national championship, which should ensure a competitive championship on a great golf links.

Could we ask for more? Yes, probably that Harrington – seeking a sixth Irish PGA – rediscovers some form on the golf course. It’s time, you feel, for him to come out of the golfing horrors.