Pádraig Harrington: Better to have contended and failed than not to have challenged at all

Pádraig Harrington reacquainted himself with the high-pressure stakes of the business end of a major championship and felt right at home at St Andrews.

If the two-time Open champion had only continued the immaculate putting into the final day, the Irishman may have lifted the famous Claret Jug for a third time.

Harrington, catapulted into the mix on Sunday with a brilliant third-round 65, gave himself a chance at age of 43 to become the oldest Open winner since Roberto de Vicenzo became champion in 1967 at 44 years and 92 days.

And the way he started with back-to-back birdies, followed by another at the par-five fifth to move into a share of the lead, suggested that Irish golf fans would be rolling back the years to Harrington’s glorious Open wins of 2007 and 2008.

Certainly the familiar traits of those victories as well as his third major success at the 2008 PGA Championship, were all in full working order.

The hard-staring eyes, the confident swagger and the clinical putting ticked all the boxes from seven years ago but alas it was not to be.

Harrington’s title bid began to unravel on the sixth tee, his drive veering right and his ball entering a not so enchanted forest of gorse.

In went the golfer, his caddie Ronan Flood at the head of a sizeable search party but to no avail. He double bogeyed, the error compounded by a bogey at the eighth to cancel out his lightning start.

Harrington did not give up the chase but despite a birdie at the 11th, back-to-back bogeys at the 14th and 15th and then a double-bogey six at 17th either side of a morale-boosting monster birdie putt at 16 were enough to consigned to a ‘what might have been’ day at the Home of Golf.

A bogey at the last was rough justice but Harrington had finally run out of steam and finished with a three-putt for a three-over 75 that left him at seven under par.

“Better off being in contention and finishing 20th than shooting 66 on a Sunday to finish 20th,” Harrington said when it was all over.

“Under nice conditions that wouldn’t bother me at all. But it’s disappointing, as I said, the last couple of holes even. I played really nicely through 14, 15 to make two bogeys, and then 17 is obviously a tough hole and 18, so I dropped a few shots coming home that I possibly shouldn’t have, which is disappointing for my own play, but I was never winning once I was through 10 holes, I suppose, when it’s all the downwind holes.

“It’s hard to make something up on the back nine. It’s a pity, that, but I hit lots of nice shots. Other times you get the breaks and you’ll be right there.”

Harrington’s well-documented drift down the world rankings since those glory days at Carnoustie, Birkdale and Oakland Hills has been arrested of late, his PGA Tour victory at the Honda Classic in March confirming he still had what it takes to succeed in the company of his peers.

This past week at St Andrews perhaps shows Harrington can do a little better than that and while he will take more time to regain trust in his putting, the belief still burns that he can add to his three major victories.

“Yeah, I felt like I hit the ball every bit as well as I needed to hit the ball to win this week. I didn’t putt well enough today. You know, we’ll have to think about that a little bit and figure it out. Probably wasn’t quite committed on my putts, even though I read the greens fantastic this week. You know, that’s the nature of the game.

“Some days you’re rolling them in and you get very comfortable and they all go in. Today wasn’t one of those days.

“I hit a lot of putts early on that just didn’t come out on the right line, and after that I was struggling a little.”

Harrington certainly enjoyed the cut and thrust of last-day tussle at a major, an experience he had not felt since the 2012 US Open at Olympic Club.

“I felt very good mentally. Not great on the greens at times, but very good mentally up to a certain point. Then the greens kind of got a bit to me. I hit lovely shots really all the way home. Only really that tee shot on 17 wasn’t great, but everything was pretty strong.”

As for the putting, well, it was one of those days.

“It just happens,” Harrington said.