Omens good for Irish quartet at Sandwich

The omens are still good for this year’s Irish quartet and especially the in-form Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington.

This is the fourth British Open Championship to be played at Royal St Georges since the war. In two of those years, it has proved a relatively good venue for the Irish, with Harry Bradshaw foiled of an outright win in 1949 by the famous ‘ball in the bottle’ incident, while Christy O’Connor Jnr shot a course record 64 on the opening day in 1984 before eventually finishing in a share of third place.

Our contingent were nowhere to be seen when the championship last came here in 1993, but the omens are still good for this year’s quartet and especially the in-form Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington. Furthermore, Paul McGinley quietly fancies his chances of producing a best-of-the-season performance, while Gary Murphy would be delighted with a top 20 finish, although insisting that he sees his presence in the Open as little more than a bonus after clinching his European Tour card at the Scottish Open over the weekend.

Clarke remains as enigmatic as ever. One might have expected him to be on a high following a fifth-place finish in the Smurfit European Open followed by a share of second at Loch Lomond on Sunday. However, after yesterday’s practice round in the company of Davis Love 111, Fred Couples and David Duval, he looked anything but happy and made straight for the practice ground and an intensive session with his coach Butch Harmon. “My game isn’t quite where I would like it to be,” he said. “The course is very difficult, especially when the breeze blows up. It’s difficult to keep the ball on the fairways, it’s difficult to get it close to the holes. With the slopes on the greens, it’s going to be a very tough week.”

Harrington owes himself and his huge array of fans a really good Open after his bitterly disappointing failure to get into last year’s play-off at Muirfield. Once again, the level of expectation is enormous, something Pádraig is well aware of and a factor he tries to play down at just about every opportunity. Yet deep within himself, he must feel that the longer he remains the nearly man the more he is sure to be classified as one of those world-class golfers who has yet to capture a major. “For people to say such things or to put me in the same category as Phil Mickelson, I regard as a compliment,” he insists. “Getting so close last year has certainly given me confidence. My game held up through the back nine and it said to me, yes, I can do it.”

In spite of the so-called “Tiger Slump,” Woods is, as ever, a solid favourite at 11-4. His recent victory in the Western Open was his fourth of the US campaign this year and more importantly, demonstrated that his game was back very close to its best, a point he himself is happy to make. “The things I’m working on started to come together,” he claims. “I played well at the Western Open and it’s that kind of consistency that I am now trying to find.” As for the Royal St Georges links, Tiger doesn’t seem sure whether it’s to his liking or not. “These are the most severe fairways we are going to play as far as bounces go”, he mused. “It’s not too often you hit the ball down the middle and your ball ends up in the rough or in a bunker. Yet I think this course rewards quality golf shots. You can’t go out and play poorly and contend. You have to play solidly for all 72 holes. As long as you make quality swings, after that, whatever happens, happens.” Whereas second favourite (7-1) Ernie Els doesn’t avoid talking about the possibility of a “showdown” between himself and Woods, Tiger prefers to look at it another way: “There are more than two of us playing the tournament,” he declared. “Anyone who has qualified and earned their right to play in this event can win. If you were playing a matchplay event, he and I, that would be a different story. Hopefully we can both play well and have a chance on Sunday evening.” Els, for his part, suggests this may well be the week when they at last go head to head down the stretch in a major. He insists it is “ridiculous” to talk of a Tiger slump because he hasn’t won a major in a year and adds: “He’s going to try and prove something by having a big week. I’m also playing well, as my scoring at Loch Lomond underlines, and I feel really good about this week so, hopefully, it will happen.”

The bookmakers rate the Canadian left-hander and Masters champion Mike Weir third favourite at 18-1 and he sounds like the kind of solid, tidy operator well capable of coping with the peculiar demands of a fast running links course like Royal St Georges.

He points out that he is already “a low ball hitter so I don’t have to adjust my game very much. In an Open, you always have to putt well and be more creative with your short game. At the Masters, you’re trying to flop the ball and land it on soft greens but here you don’t have any of that. But I love the golf course. It’s running nice and fast and I think that’s how the R&A will want it.”

Strangely, considering his general consistency, Weir has a very poor Open record. His best finish in four starts is a tie for 37th and that could be a telling factor where his chance is concerned. I prefer the very impressive US Open winner Jim Furyk at 22-1 but can’t look beyond the big two of Woods and Els to battle it out for the glory on Sunday afternoon with Harrington and Clarke there or thereabouts to maintain Ireland’s good run over the Royal St Georges links.