Major expectations as hungry Harrington raises bar

IT was some achievement for Padraig Harrington to be voted Sports Personality of the Year by the people of Ireland.

Given the massive volume of support for gaelic football and hurling and the near hysteria associated with the Irish soccer team, especially in a World Cup year, I would have put my bottom dollar on the award going to one or other of those activities.

Instead, the public in their wisdom opted for a golfer, and they couldn’t have chosen a more worthy recipient. Not alone has Padraig Harrington proved himself on the world stage with victories in Asia, the United States (where he finished in the top ten in two of their three major championships before eventually whipping Tiger Woods in his own backyard) and Europe, but he came across as a wonderful ambassador for his country, a point well made by several speakers at the RTE bash.

Indeed, you are led to believe that many of the votes went in Harrington’s favour because he’s a nice guy as much as for his brilliance on the golf course.

He has the happy knack of rubbing shoulders with all strata of society, rich and poor, famous and unknown, and behaving in exactly the same way. Not a sign of cynicism, never a hint of getting ahead of himself. Little wonder that Bord Failte should have signed him up during the year to act as a worldwide ambassador on their behalf.

However, being the perceptive man that he is, Harrington won’t have overlooked the high level of expectation already being placed in him for the major championships in 2003. He flashed that magnificent smile whenever the subject was raised at the awards ceremony. What the well meaning speakers and their listeners should realise, however, is just how difficult it is to win any one of the Masters, US and British Opens and the US PGA Championship, especially in the Tiger Woods era.

It won’t be made any easier if every time Padraig opens a newspaper or switches on the radio and television, people are talking about him as a potential major championship winner in 2003. I don’t know what the bookmakers (including his own Baggott Racing!) would lay against him doing so but it would have to be in region of 20-1.

For now, Harrington’s clubs are safely locked away and won’t re-emerge competitively until the end of February in time for the World Matchplay Championship in California. He and wife Caroline, along with the Paul McGinleys and family, will shortly be heading off on holiday together to Barbados and nobody deserves the break more.

2002 may not have been a great one for McGinley but his heroics at the Ryder Cup made up for a lot. All the time, he has worked and worked on his game to such an extent that you have to believe he will be back among the big boys before too much of 2003 has elapsed. In fact, I would bet on it. As for Harrington, his work ethic is already a byword in the game.

And as Paul and Padraig soak up the sun in the Caribbean, a number of lesser Irish lights are already preparing for the first tournament on the new 2003 European Tour. The South African Open, co-sanctioned with the European Tour, begins at the Erinvale club in Cape Town on Thursday and provides a window of opportunity for a trio that some may not even realise have turned professional! Tim Rice from Limerick, Gavin McNeill of Waterford and Donegal’s Ciaran McMonagle all owe their place in the field to their pre-Christmas exploits on the Sunshine Tour.

Making the cut and a few bob will be the incentive for all three, thereby qualifying them for the next tournament in South Africa, the Dunhill championship at Houghton, Johannesburg, the following week and, of course, helping to meet with the not inconsiderable expenses involved.

Also in the Cape Town field this week are Dubliner Peter Lawrie, who finished 4th on the 2002 Challenge Tour and so has a very good card for this year, and Kilkenny’s Gary Murphy, who came through the Tour School in 6th place and of whom, accordingly, we will also be seeing a great deal in the coming months. Lawrie played in the two tournaments at the end of 2002 that counted for this year’s order of merit and made €7,815.

In contrast, Harrington contested the first of the two events, the Asian Open, emerged victorious and is already way out in front in the money list with a handsome €247, 967.

The sixth Irishman in the South African Open is Graeme McDowell, the Portrush golfer who made the headlines with his magnificent victory in the Scandinavian Open last August. Although he achieved surprisingly little subsequently, McDowell obviously sees the coming campaign as crucial in his ambitions to develop into a world-class player, and it’s one that he is fully capable of realising.