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Portrush feels right at home back in big time

Friday, June 29, 2012

By John McHenry

Royal Portrush announced itself once again on golf’s world stage.

For too long this wonderful course, which hosted the British Open as far back as 1951, had remained idle in terms of professional golf tournaments but surely the effort shown by Northern Ireland’s players and the general public will ensure this will never be the case again.

Links golf is not unique to Ireland of course, but it does offer international audiences an opportunity to view something a little different from your typical run of the mill tournament. That, coupled with the fact this is the first links tournament of the year with a huge attendance and an atmosphere to match, can only be good for the promotion of the island of Ireland as a whole.

In terms of the tournament itself, the media and public focus at the start of the day was very much on Ireland’s elite four, the Major champions. Although there were 10 Major winners in the field altogether, it was Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and, to a lesser extent, Pádraig Harrington who were expected to deliver come Sunday afternoon. That said, the Irish golfing public are some of the best in the world. Yesterday they made everyone feel especially welcome and how refreshing it must have been for all the players to have a gallery as knowledgeable and supportive of their efforts as this.

McDowell would have fancied his chances starting out yesterday morning, given his knowledge of the course and his recent heroics at the US Open but, if anything, instead of looking comfortable in front of his home gallery he looked decidedly nervous.

After a solid start his game became uncharacteristically scrappy at a time when he should have been making the most of benign conditions. A 71 means he will have to play hard just to make the cut today.

Harrington’s golfing curve has been on the way up for some time but he knows he now needs to convert that good form into a win sometime in the near future if he is to realise his ambition to play in the Ryder Cup in Chicago later this year.

His form suggests he should have an opportunity to do so this week — or on one of the two other links courses in the next three weeks.

I was very impressed with his play yesterday. His demeanour on the golf course suggests he is very comfortable with his game at the moment and it looked like a very easy 67, even if he rode his luck at times.

His putting remains a concern of course, but given the fact he will not be putting on any super-fast greens over the coming weeks that should only enhance his chances.

Of the other Irish players, I was impressed with McIlroy’s game management, even if I felt at times that he was playing almost too conservatively. We know he knows this course inside out and so that should be a factor come Sunday, but that will only happen if he can manage to get the balance right on a course that is playing soft and short. Too often we have witnessed him making too many silly mistakes. He must try to plunder the easy par-fives here. He has all the talent to make the game look ridiculously easy but it remains to be seen if he can sustain the necessary grit and focus over the coming days to win one of the most important titles of his short career.

Clarke continues to struggle for consistency but that can change over the coming weeks on the links courses where he feels most at home. He will do everything in his power to be around for the weekend and that in itself may well be the catalyst he now needs to become competitive again after a very lacklustre year.

To that effect he should take some heart from the recent performances of Paul McGinley, who has reminded us what a great player he still is and that he doesn’t just want to be classified as the probable next European Ryder Cup Captain.

Although it is still too early to make any calls, yesterday has shown us once again that the Irish Open is more than alive and well, it is flourishing.

The players seem to be enjoying the challenge of a very playable course, where good shots are rewarded with an abundance of birdie chances and, most especially, where the galleries simply enjoy the fact the players are there at all.

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