Smiles all round as Bjorn banishes demons

FOR all the world it could have been any casual, friendly, club three-ball.

Like they hadn’t a care in the world between the three of them they walked and talked, laughed their relaxed way from first tee to 18th green. No-one watching would have thought these were three top professionals playing the longest course laid out on the European Tour, or that they were playing for a total prize fund of nearly €2 million.

No-one would have thought one of those guys was Pádraig Harrington, the world’s number nine golfer, carrying the hopes of a home nation despairing without a win in this event in over 20 years on his muscular sloping shoulders. More especially, no-one would have thought another of those guys was Thomas Bjorn, the Dane who just five days ago had seen the Claret Jug, the most storied and prized trophy in golf, ripped from his grasp during the final four holes of the British Open.

From the first tee-box the gallery was huge, snowballed as the match progressed; from the first tee-box also it was obvious these three get on really well together, Harrington and Bjorn especially but the third, New Zealander Michael Campbell, happily included.

Kiwi and Dane each birdied the first, while the Irishman battled for par. Battle was the operative word for Harrington through those early holes because driver in hand on every tee-box (with the exception of the par-3s), the big Dub had come to play. Bjorn and Campbell were holding back a little, iron or 3-wood used occasionally to launch their initial assaults on this magnificent links.

On the 13th that aggression saw Harrington join the gallery for a few minutes outside the ropes, his long drive ending up in the light rough but a long iron speared into the wind and a beautiful little chip to a couple of feet saw that boldness rewarded with his first birdie of the day. One hole later, where the others held back with a 3-wood, out came the Harrington mallet again and he almost drove the 411-yard green; a baby chip that just ducked out of the hole for what would have been an eagle, so another birdie, and the crowd rose.

Bjorn and Campbell were also going well, Campbell especially. The New Zealander (looks powerful enough to play for the All-Blacks) made the turn for home in the lead, four under after nine, closely followed by Bjorn on -3, Harrington one dropped shot further back following the only bogey between the threesome, on the 17th. There his tee-time boldness had finally been punished: fairway bunker, hack out, no chance at the green, knee-trembler just to save bogey. Seemed to give Harrington second thoughts too because on the 18th (his 9th), where the others hit driver, he was nursing a 3-wood.

All turned in good shape but the Dane was about to switch on the afterburners. The three shots he took to get out of a greenside bunker at the 16th last Sunday are already part of Open folklore. Five days later, 2nd hole (his 11th), another greenside bunker. Splashed out, across 60 feet of green, straight in the hole. The crowd erupted, he turned, acknowledged the irony of it all with a huge grin, turned to his partners and uttered an aside. “If ever there was a shot five days too late, that was it”.

Mind you, sometimes the players bite back, and do so on the stupendously long 603-yard par-5 6th. Birdie each for Bjorn and Harrington, eagle for Campbell. That second-hole birdie set Bjorn on his way and were it not for the par-four 4th, where his first effort missed by millimetres, he would have had six birdies in a row. His only bogey came at 8, but he birdied his last to end with a fantastic 8-under and a new course record.

Campbell and Harrington also finished well, each with a birdie, but last shot of the round fell to the Irishman and we were back to that club three-ball feeling. Never mind the money, having left his approach well inside the other two and watched them sink those long putts in succession, this was for honour. Not a gimme either, not from about eight feet, and Harrington’s relieved smile when it went in said it all. Almost.

“Thanks for making me look so bad” he said with a grin as he went to shake their hands, and you could see where he was coming from. Three under, and leading Irishman with Brendan McGovern, but Campbell was three better and second overall at -6. Bjorn, well, in this 3-ball, on this day, he was the man. Aggregate of 17 under, that 3-ball wasn’t bettered, and won’t be. But it was more than the golf, a lot more.

“A lot of credit to both Pádraig and Michael for being supportive and also doing everything with a smile this morning, that’s probably what I needed,” Bjorn said afterwards. That too had been noted, and appreciated, by the huge and knowledgeable crowd.