Irish aces bid to end 52-year PGA famine

IRISH golfers have won tournaments – including majors – in almost every corner of the globe.

However, one of the few exceptions is the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship which begins over the newly revamped West Course at Wentworth, Surrey, this morning.

Our only champion remains the late Harry Bradshaw, who triumphed at Llandudno in 1958 in a totally different scenario to what now prevails in the professional game. Back then, the tournament finished on Fridays so that the competitors could be back at their clubs and the prize money was paltry, with the winner lucky to pick up £500. The PGA Championship was confined to UK and Irish pros until 1966 – but the times were changing.

In all that time, however, not one of the many outstanding Irishmen on the European circuit was able to emulate what “The Brad” had achieved in 1958. Paul McGinley went closest in 2005 when he led going down the stretch only to find the pressure just a little too much and he had to settle for the runner-up spot behind Angel Cabrera. Darren Clarke also came second in 1997 and again in 2000 but otherwise the Irish haven’t had a whole lot to crow about.

So, just as Pádraig Harrington ended the 25-year famine since an Irishman had won the Irish Open in 1997, the time is surely ripe for another member of our talented and large contingent of players to bridge the 52-year gap since Bradshaw enjoyed his big week.

Rory McIlroy has been installed co-favourite with Lee Westwood at 11-1, its own demonstration of the high profile he now enjoys at the highest levels of the game. He jumped to 9th in the world rankings by winning the Quail Hollow Championship a few weeks ago and after missing the cut a week later at the Players Championship, celebrating his 21st birthday and taking a break for a few days, is now all set to resume his activities on the European circuit.

“It’s great to be playing over in America but it’s always nice to come back to familiar surroundings,” he said. “This is a great course and a great field, five of the top ten in the world with a lot of world ranking points to play for.”

For Harrington, this is the ideal opportunity to end a 21-month drought since his last tournament victory, the US PGA Championship, in August 2008.

His refusal to play here over the last couple of years because of his dislike of the greens before the total recent revamp by Ernie Els, was extremely controversial. Indeed, he now admits that “I didn’t feel great about the decision as I was Open champion on both occasions. I was a little embarrassed because it was the Tour’s flagship event.”

Harrington played the “new” West Course (or Burma Road, as it is popularly called) a month or so ago and was a lot happier with what he found then and also during his rounds there on Tuesday and yesterday’s pro-am which took place in delightful weather which is predicted to continue for the remainder of the week.

“I think Ernie has done a great job over the last number of years in making the golf course a stronger but fairer challenge”, he reasoned.

“I particularly like that he has widened the fairways. The bunkers are deeper but give you a reasonable target to aim for. It’s a big golf course which is essential for changing weather conditions.”

Between ongoing trouble with his neck and more recently a problem with his knee that will require a medical procedure next Tuesday, Harrington’s fitness hasn’t always been all it might have been. And if you see him at a rather strange angle as he prepares to putt this week, he reassures that “this is a precautionary thing because of the knee. I can squat down on my left leg. You’ll see me sit basically on my left foot, squat all the way down and keep the right one up. It has not affected my ability to get my head down level to read the putts.”

Having missed the cut in both the Masters and Players Championship, he has points to make but, with the exception of man of the moment, Rory McIlroy, that applies equally to the other Irish in the field – Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin and Michael Hoey, all regular Tour players, and Waterville’s David Higgins, here as leader of the Irish PGA Region order of merit last year.

With €4.5m on offer, a winner’s cheque for €750, 000 and a bucket load of world ranking, Ryder Cup and European Tour points at stake, the incentives for that long-awaited Irish breakthrough could hardly be greater.