Harrington prepared for this week’s British Open in traditional fashion by laying waste to Ireland’s (mostly) homebound golf professionals not otherwise occupied on an international tour. The last two years have yielded Claret Jugs for Harrington after winning the Irish PGA, so he wasn’t about to meddle with something that works, at least not this close to his defense. After all, he felt the need to deconstruct something else that worked – that is, his swing – and that has only resulted in a slew of missed cuts and incredulous inquiries from the probing media pertaining to Harrington’s seeming quest to explore territory known to an exclusive club populated by the likes of Ian Baker-Finch, David Duval and Chip Beck.
Harrington ran off a 7-stroke victory at The European Club on Saturday, the only man in the field to finish under par for 72 holes. He carded rounds of 68, 70, 73 and 72 for an aggregate 283 that provided the cushion between him and Brian McElhinney at 290. While Harrington recognizes the need to put himself in a winning frame of mind in order to be at his best at Turnberry this week, has he cloaked himself in a false sense of security? He seemed at pains to convince himself as he discussed the merits of his victory.
“Obviously, anytime you tee it up in a tournament, you want to win it,” Harrington said. “Whatever that tournament is, it’s always very pleasing to win. Winning is a habit, there’s no doubt about that. The more you win the better, regardless of where you are doing it. It’s important to get out there and win. Yeah, it is important to win this week. The magnitude of the tournament is not as great as [the Open], but winning is a habit, and it’s always good to be in winning form.”
Harrington then went on express satisfaction that he avoided three-putting, but described his long game as “much poorer than it has been all year.”
EUROPEAN TOUR
Most everyone else of note was honing his game in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, with no imminent outburst of splendid form apparent. Damien McGrane showed best of the lot, garnering a 25th-place tie at 4-under-par 280 (71-68-73-68).
If pleased with their performances, Darren Clarke (69-69-68-77), Graeme McDowell (70-72-71-70) and Paul McGinley (65-71-75-72) could form a mutual admiration society, each finishing in joint-41st place at 283. Like the previous week in Paris, Clarke went into a Sunday swoon, losing three strokes over the first three holes and, then, bogeying four of the first five holes after making the turn.
Rory McIlroy was a stroke behind that trio at 284 (68-71-72-73), which gave him a share of 46th place.
The above-mentioned will tee off at Turnberry, along with Harrington and David Higgins, who tied for 19th place in the Irish PGA, shooting 304 (76-76-80-72).