Pádraig Harrington braced for 'slowest rounds ever' at the US Open

Padraig Harrington of Ireland. Pic: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

When you a certain stage in your career as Pádraig Harrington has, a major championship week takes on a different tenor. Harrington took nearly an hour to cover the 171 yards of the par-3 ninth hole in Tuesday’s practice round.

First he stopped after teeing off to chat with NBC television broadcast personalities Paul Azinger and Dan Hicks. Then fellow Irishman Paul McGinley happened by to consume another block of time.

A few friends wandered up on the other side of the walking bridge across the barranca. And after finally finishing the hole he fell into an animated conversation with YouTube and Instagram sensation Manolo Vega (@manoloteachesgolf).

“You (expletive) smack that (expletive) and be very Irish out there,” Manolo said before leaving.

“I'll be very Irish,” Harrington said.

“The fescue looks very Irish out there,” Manolo added.

“I’ll see you Sunday evening to celebrate,” Harrington promised.

The pace and tone of things should have the 51-year-old reigning US Senior Open champion ready for what’s about to come on a very challenging North Course at Los Angeles Country Club.

“I need to manage myself, this is going to be an extraordinarily long week,” said Harrington, who was nursing sore rib muscles last month when he made the cut at the PGA. 

“These are probably gonna be the slowest rounds of golf ever in tournament golf. I'd be surprised if they're under six hours.

"There’s just a lot of crisscrossing. When you have the drivable par-4s and reachable par-5s, that all slows play down. So yeah, this is going to be long day on your feet all week, so the one thing I have to manage is that I’m fresh for the whole week for Sunday.” 

Harrington says he likes the challenges of LACC, but it presents complications for him without as high a ball flight as the younger players coming into such firm and devilish green complexes. He will have to deftly manage his way around the course to fare well.

“It's not a natural thing for me to hit it high, so that's the awkwardness,” he said. “The rest of the golf course, you know, it's tough, difficult around the greens. But that's the same for everybody and if anything that plays into my hands.

“I think there'll be more frustrations this week than most… it's definitely a severe mental challenge. If you hit it in the rough you are not getting to the green. So you're under a lot of pressure.

“If you're looking for the best player to win this week, the guy who hits a lot of fairways and greens. 

"That's exactly what the USGA wants, somebody who hits fairways and greens. There's too much pressure around the greens if you're missing fairways.

“So I think they will get the winner they want. The best golfer probably will win this week. The rest of the guys who don't win will be frustrated.” 

Coming to a course with no history at this level of the game makes it difficult to set a target score. Harrington has a number in mind that he’d welcome.

“It will depend on the setup,” he said. “They have a pretty brutally tough golf course so they can afford to be somewhat lenient. It's better to have a tough golf course that they set up easy than an easy golf course that they trick up.

"At this stage, we've got a tough golf course. By the time we get in the tournament you know, golf courses generally get easier in the tournaments. I don't know if this one will. It's a typical US Open it's going to be a battle of attrition.

“I probably would give up body parts for 4-under par. You definitely could negotiate for 4-under and sit there. Who knows? It could be 8-under if they go easy on us.

"I'd be surprised if it's any higher than level par because they don't need to do that.”