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Struggling McIlroy needs drop of Harrington’s fighting spirit

Pádraig Harrington may not win the Irish Open this week but one thing is for sure, he won’t give up the fight easily.

That’s Harrington’s way and why he is the holder of three Major championships and a host of other titles, including the 2007 Irish Open.

Much the same can be said of Graeme McDowell, another of the short-priced players in the Portrush field, while Darren Clarke has promised to give it everything, his shocking lack of form over the past 11 months and recent inactivity means that even his knowledge of the Dunluce links may count for little.

And so to Rory McIlroy, the other Irish-born Major champion in the field. He is only 23, is extremely wealthy, boasts a trophy girlfriend and looks set to enjoy an envious lifestyle for decades to come.

There are clearly people jealous of his success and at times he has also been guilty of some regrettable comments and actions. However, what people choose to forget is that they were 23 once themselves and might well have said and done things that make them cringe now. In other words, they need to cut McIlroy some slack, acknowledging he remains a likeable and friendly person who has achieved a huge amount in his young life and will surely do a lot more in the very near future.

To realise that ambition, however, he needs to realise the golfing gods can be maddeningly fickle. They have been very good to McIlroy on several occasions over the past few years, most notably when he produced his very best golf on the way to an eight-shot victory in the 2011 US Open. Perhaps they felt a little guilty having treated him so shabbily in the final round of the Masters six weeks or so earlier.

That year continued on a high with victories and top-three finishes becoming the order of the day and it was much the same as the current campaign got under way. It was then, however, that he may have lost his way somewhat, deciding not to compete in the three weeks prior to and after the Masters.

Accordingly, McIlroy has turned up at Portrush on the back of missing four of his last five cuts — including the Masters and the US Open. For much of those weeks, he seemed to throw in the towel.

Harrington, for one, would not have approved. Naturally enough, McIlroy’s body language has not gone unnoticed and suddenly he isn’t quite the darling of the media he was over most of last year.

It seems, however, that he is seeing the light and wisely enough didn’t shirk the issue when it was put to him in Portrush last night that he has found it difficult to really grind out scores when he is struggling with his game.

“For sure, definitely, in the past if things haven’t gone my way, the fight goes out of me pretty quickly,” he responded with disarming honesty.

“That’s something I’m working on. I said recently that I had taken my eye off the ball and maybe taken a couple more days off a week. But it’s not like I was completely neglecting my golf game.

“I realise that if I want to stay at the top of this game, I have to work as hard as I did at the start of the season. I want to become a better wind player and bad weather player and the only way to do it is to play in it. If it is bad this week, it would be nice to go out and play well. That would give me confidence going into the [British] Open if it happens to be bad there as well.”

Rain or shine, McIlroy’s attitude this week will be vital for all sorts of reasons. Any sign of a white flag flying over the McIlroy bag will not be acceptable to the savvy Irish golf fans. Home

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