Hard man Harrington

Pádraig Harrington insists his recent struggles are just part and parcel of sport and made him even tougher than before.

The 40-year old Dubliner has never lost faith in his ability to win more majors and after mounting a final round US Open charge that saw him threaten to snatch a fourth Grand Slam title and share fourth, he knows he’ll be back on everyone’s Major radar at the British Open at Royal Lytham next month. Up 19 spots to world No 75 after a closing 68 gave him a share of fourth, Harrington said: “Winning is a habit and the tough times make you more resilient.

“It is hard when you continually feel like you’re being judged and expectations are being built up around you while you are trying to do your own thing. It has made me more resilient. I’m harder. Anybody who knows me from my amateur days wouldn’t have thought it was possible for me to get harder. But I have. I am harder.”

Winning three majors in just over a year piled the pressure on Harrington to continue racking up the most coveted titles in the game.

But he knew it was impossible to remain on such a high.

After clinching his second top 10 in a major this year, and his best finish in one of the Grand Slams since his 2008 US PGA victory, he explained: “People think you can continue to play at a peak, but it is impossible. It wouldn’t be a peak if you could play like that all the time.

“Usain Bolt hasn’t won every 100 metres since the last Olympics. At that stage nobody ever thought he could lose a race. Golf is the same.

“You have your peaks and you have to knuckle down and play your way through. I do believe I am a better player than I have ever been.”

Harrington flew in under the radar at The Olympic Club as an 80/1 outsider but knew he could challenge on a track he felt suited his game. And after finishing eighth in the Masters and fourth at the Olympic Club, Harrington knows he’ll be expected to challenge for the British Open next month.

Smiling, he said: “Expectations will rise. People will say, ‘Oh Harrington has a chance’, but they weren’t saying that coming in here!”

Six off the pace entering the final round, Harrington looked out of it when he dropped two early shots.

But he hit back with three birdies on the spin from the seventh, chipped in for another at the 13th and then birdied the 17th to go to the last with a chance to match the clubhouse leader Michael Thompson on two over.

Trying to make an eagle two, he plugged his 111-yard gap wedge from a downhill, lie in a greenside bunker yet almost chipped in for a miraculous par.

“I’m only disappointed there’s not a US open every week.

“Unfortunately, I will go to the next major and there will be expectations. I was nicely under the radar this week and coming into the Open there will be a little more expectation on my shoulders and I will have to do my own thing — like I did for the last three or four years.”