Carr’s dreams come true – now for Harrington

RODDY CARR must have been the happiest man in Ireland on Sunday night.

It was his vision that brought the Solheim Cup to these shores and while he had his detractors along the way, he had the persistence and belief to bring the project to fruition with outstanding results at Killeen Castle.

Fáilte Ireland are to be complimented also for the manner in which they rowed in behind Carr and his team and hopefully their efforts will be a huge boost for golfing tourism throughout the island.

There were many who didn’t support Carr’s vision, arguing the funds for such an event would have been better spent ensuring the future of the men’s Irish Open.

How wrong they were. The women of Ireland and a fair share of the male population turned up in unbelievable numbers to ensure the success of the venture. Alison Nicholas and her European players did the rest and the reputation of Ireland as a golfing nation has soared.

As usual when big-time golf comes to Ireland, the weather tries its best to spoil the party but neither the players nor their amazing supporters seemed too bothered. The Jack Nicklaus design at Killeen Castle in Co Meath is still very much on the youthful side and inevitably took a hammering from the elements on Sunday but came through with reputation enhanced. In all, an occasion of which we can all be very proud.

Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington’s travails continued in the Austrian Open, where he finished in a share of 37th.

His world ranking has dropped to 84th, having begun 2011 in 23rd place. Positive as ever, Harrington insists the swing changes will reap a rich dividend in time. The reality is that his lowly ranking will deprive him of the chance of competing in several lucrative tournaments, such as the HSBC World Championship in Shanghai in November and Tiger Woods’ World Challenge in California in December.

An even bigger blow to Harrington’s morale would surely be failure to get among the top 60 who qualify for the European Tour’s end-of-season Race to Dubai.

He is down in 88th in that competition and desperately in need of a few big finishes starting immediately with this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

It is an event that fits nicely with Harrington’s approach to the game. He loves the idea of partnering his good friend JP McManus in the amateur team side of the affair and won the title in 2002 and again in 06. The Dunhill also sees the return to competitive action of Rory McIlroy, still ranked third in the world after taking a couple of weeks off, some of that time passed at home in Bangor in the company of world number one tennis star Caroline Wozniacki.

Harrington isn’t the only Irishman in need of a confidence booster this week. Graeme McDowell has had a quiet year by his standards, his world ranking dropping from sixth to 15th, while Darren Clarke has hardly figured since his remarkable victory in the British Open in July and he is now 39th in the world rankings. However, Clarke (eighth) and McDowell (36th) are comfortably through to the Race to Dubai play-offs.

Also teeing it up around St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns this week are Peter Lawrie (61st) and Shane Lowry (63rd), both within touching distance of the top 60, along with Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey, Gareth Maybin, Paul McGinley and Paul Cutler, one of Britain & Ireland’s Walker Cup heroes earlier this month but who missed the cut in his first professional outing in Austria.