IT’S A measure of how far Pádraig Harrington has come in life that his daily commute from the place he calls home in the foothills of the Dublin mountains to the mouth of the river Boyne for the 3 Irish Open at Co Louth Golf Club will avoid any traffic or tolls.
It will take all of 16 minutes, by helicopter, for the 87.4 kilometres trip – shorter as the crow flies – and you’d doubt that anyone casting an eye up from terra firma at his mode of transport would begrudge in any way the triple-major winner for indulging in his little luxury. Of more concern, perhaps, is the sort of game that Harrington, the world’s number eight-ranked player, will take to the wind-swept links.
By his own admission, Harrington’s game is not where it should be or where he would want it to be. The reason? He’s been tinkering with his swing. Which, of course, begged the question: Why? After winning two majors in one season. Why?
“To be blatantly honest, I don’t want to play like I played last year . . . I want to play better!”
If such a statement evoked a short intake of breath from those listening, Harrington – who has always tinkered with his game in the off-season, but has found it dragging on into the playing season on this occasion – explained: “That’s my nature. I’m always going to do that . . . I know I won some majors and I can go forward and play better. You can play better in the short term, and it mightn’t give you the results, but, over a longer period of time, improving will always reap the benefits.
“That’s what I always try to do, is keep changing and keep improving and keep moving forward.”
He added: “I’m well aware of what I’m doing and what’s happening, and it is something I want to do. I just have to run with it.”
The result has been a stint on tour that has seen him fail to break into the top-10 anywhere since he achieved fifth place in the Abu Dhabi Championship back in mid-January. That famously cold stare that epitomised his charge to glory in the US PGA at Oakland Hills last August has been absent. He knows it too.
“Those stares are rare enough . . . (caused by) a combination of preparation, being focused, being in the zone and then the excitement of the situation, the adrenaline. It’s not something I need and it’s not something I worry about. It is great when it happens. Because of the way I’ve been focused on other things, I haven’t been that excited or nervous about anything at the moment. But, you know, hopefully I will get there this week.”
Not only is Harrington, the 37-year-old Dubliner, the best-ranked player in the field; but he also heads a home grown contingent that is arguably the strongest collective batch of players that Ireland has ever known with Rory McIlroy, just over a week out of his teens, and Graeme McDowell among those also occupying places in he world’s top-50.
In all, there are eight players from the world’s top-50 in the field – also including Lee Westwood, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Ross Fisher, Oliver Wilson and Soren Kjeldsen – and, with a new title sponsor on board and an increase in the tournament purse to €3 million, this is very much the dawning of a new era in an attempt to revitalise a tournament that was once a flagship event on the European Tour. The move towards reclaiming that place effectively starts here this week.
Certainly, the return to one of the country’s finest links course, one that Colin Montgomerie claimed had “stood the test of time”, and which last hosted the tournament in 2004 when Australian Brett Rumford won, will present a stiff challenge for those aspiring to claim the crown of defending champion Richard Finch.
The forecast is for unsettled weather, the only guarantee being for wind, which is a links course’s greatest ally. It will call for creative and imaginative thinking with the yardage book basically thrown out the window.
“No doubt, it suits the Irish boys when it blows like this,” affirmed McDowell, with just a hint of a grin. “This is a great links course and it is going to be a really good test. You have to prepare yourself for any eventuality really.”
Yet, if there is a giddy expectation of a strong Irish challenge this year, with so many players – Harrington, McIlroy, McDowell, Darren Clarke, Michael Hoey, Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane – savouring success of one sort or another around the globe in the past two seasons, there are also many invaders capable of ensuring an international victory. Indeed, there are no fewer than 11 players who have successfully captured titles on the 2009 tour competing here.
Harrington is favourite, although it is because of who he is rather than his recent form that he has been thrust into such a position. Still, the tide has to start changing somewhere and some time. Why not here? As the man himself put it, “there’s only one reason to be here, and that’s to win”. The other 155 players in the field may yet have something to say about that. But at least Harrington, whose team won the pro-am yesterday, intends competing with conviction.
Could it be the week that brings back that scary stare of his?
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