Irish have game to shoot the breeze

IF Graeme McDowell scanned the bookmakers odds for this week’s British Open, he would have been slightly taken aback at being quoted at 30-1 compared to his young friend Rory McIlroy, who is second favourite at half those odds.

Such a differential hardly pays the new US Open champion due respect although the overall prices make for encouraging reading from an Irish viewpoint. The prospects of a third Open title in four years coming to this country are obviously bright.

Pádraig Harrington’s three majors in two years in 2007 and 2008 certainly created a sense of self-belief and confidence that, of course, was carried on magnificently by McDowell at Pebble Beach last month.