Harrington hopes for rub of greens at Straits

IT’S not a links; it’s not a parkland course. It’s a hybrid - and it’s unique.

That more or less sums up Pádraig Harrington’s attitude to the US PGA Championship course at Whistling Straits after his first practice round.

The most important and striking fact, however, is that he feels at home on the 7,500 yard monster, located on the shores of Lake Michigan.

The 32-year-old Dubliner relished the fine, warm weather of Monday afternoon and claimed he was “completely comfortable” out there.

But he also agreed that if it was cold and gloomy - as it was for much of yesterday - when the tournament gets underway tomorrow, then the picture could change.

“It was a nice warm day on Monday with little wind,” he said.

“The course was very, very playable. It was about 80 degrees and the ball travels well then. It’s going out there 300 yards off the tee and you can still move it up there against the wind. But if it got windy and cold or if it rained, then it’s going to be brutally difficult. I had heard a lot of things about the course coming in and brutally difficult would have been the phrase at that point.

“But in normal conditions, it’s a great test.”

Harrington is typical of the majority of the European contingent who play down their failure to win this title in modern times.

Indeed they haven’t produced any major champion since Paul Lawrie at Carnoustie in 1999.

He suggests it may be because the US PGA set the courses up very similarly to regular US Tour venues and so familiarity very much favours the Americans.

But he also accepts that in the case of this course, Yanks, Euros and the rest are very much wandering into the unknown.

“This course is unlike anything else we have seen,” he maintains.

“It’s unique. We’re all coming not knowing exactly who it suits. It requires you to hit the ball well in the wind. You can’t run the ball up because if anything the greens are firmer than the run up areas so you have to play target golf.

“Certain aspects will suit players who have been brought up in windy conditions but ultimately, regardless of continent, the course will suit the player who strikes the ball well.

“I keep saying this, these are individual events, it’s not Europe against the USA. It would be nice to see some friends win but then again, I have some US friends and it would be nice to see them win as well.”

The course designer Pete Dye is a great admirer of Ireland’s links courses and he has inculcated that love to Herb Kohler, the owner of Whistling Straits.

Between them, they have attempted to create something similar to Ballybunion and Royal Portrush.

While Harrington agrees the course has “a very links-like feel and you feel like you’re play along the ocean rather than a lake,” he still believes comparisons between here and home are not valid.

“The winner should be a good ball striker and somebody with a good short game because you have to expect to miss a lot of greens out there. The pace of the greens is not overly quick right now which I assume is due to the slopes and the wind. As regards comparing it with what we have at home, well, it’s not comparable. Most links in Ireland would have reasonably sized and pretty flat greens because when the wind is whipping up, it’s pretty difficult to putt across slopes and the ball might well roll off altogether.”

Harrington admitted after the Irish Open that he was on the point of a physical breakdown, so how has been in the intervening fortnight?

“I had a good break and my neck and shoulder are not giving me any trouble,” he reported.

“It was a good two-week break to build these things back up. I caught it in time before it got chronic and I didn’t have to take six or eight weeks off. I did some practice and it’s a different and good kind of practice because you’re not practising on top of playing. I also had a couple of days with my coach Bob Torrance working on the same old stuff.”

Queried on Tiger Woods’s prospects of regaining his grip on the game’s major championships, he said: “I got to see the Buick Challenge on television two weeks ago and you know, Tiger looked like he’s right back where he was a few years ago.

“He really looked in top form and he could well be coming back to his dominant best. But I also think a lot of players have caught up. There are a lot of guys capable of competing with him. Young players coming out are prepared to win straight away. They’re not too worried about who they are competing against. It comes and goes, there are ebbs and flows, peaks and troughs, whatever you want.”