US Open Diary

Compiled by PHILIP REID

Harrington’s Olympic history

Of the quartet of Irish players in the field, Pádraig Harrington is the only one with past history. And he has good reason to remember the 1998 US Open here, for it was shortcomings in his play of the Olympic Club that proved to be the reasoning behind changing coach from Howard Bennett – who had nurtured his swing in his amateur days and in the transition to professional life – to Bob Torrance.

“Trying to hit some of those sloping fairways was very tricky,” recalled Harrington. “I remember my short game was, eh, the catalyst as to why I stopped working with Howard and started working with Bob. I felt like I played as good as I could that week (tied-32nd) and my short game was as good as it could be and I said, ‘right, I’ve got to improve something else in order and go on and win one of these things’.”

Harrington had finished 11th (1996) and eighth (1997) on the European Tour money list the previous two years, but his play in the US Opens at Congressional (in ’97) and the shortcomings with his short game at Olympic led to change.

McDowell’s donation

A visit to Crumlin Children’s Hospital last year left a lasting impact on Graeme McDowell, who has donated €160,000 – through his charitable foundation – to the hospital.

“Making a visit there really touched my heart a little bit. The G-Mac Foundation is very motivated to try to help Crumlin achieve their goals, the new cardiac unit there, above the existing ICU area. We’re trying to help them out, raise people’s awareness of the conditions at Crumlin and how desperately they need support.”

Earlier this year, McDowell’s foundation arranged, with the assistance of Aer Lingus, to take a group of children to Disney in Orlando.

Young Zhang ready to swing

Whilst most teenagers only get the chance to take on the Olympic Club on their X-Box or PlayStation, Chinese-born US-based Andy Zhang will get to do it for real and, in the process, will at 14 become the youngest player in the modern era to play in the US Open.

He got into the field after England’s Paul Casey was forced to withdraw due to the shoulder injury he sustained in a snowboarding accident earlier this year.

Introduced to golf as a six-year-old when the family lived in Beijing and, after making remarkable progress when coached by a Korean by the name of Mr An, Zhang’s family made the decision to move to Florida where he continued his development at the Leadbetter Academy.

“My mind just went blank,” said Zhang of the phone call from the USGA that confirmed he had made it into the field, becoming the youngest player since the second World War to play in the Major. Tadd Fujikawa of Hawaii previously held the distinction when he played in the 2006 event at Winged Foot at the age of 15.

Of playing a practice round with Bubba Watson and Aaron Baddeley, Zhang remarked: “Bubba is the Masters champion. I can’t think of anyone better to play with.”