Pádraig Harrington: 'I’m pretty damn good at the moment and well capable of winning any week'
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Padraig Harrington tees off during a practice round ahead of The Open. Photo credit: Richard Sellers/PA Wire.
Pádraig Harrington may have talked up the chances of Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy to continues Irish golf’s great record at Royal Liverpool but he is not discounting his own ability to add to a considerable personal Open Championship legacy.
Lifting the Claret Jug for the third time in his storied career at the age of 51 would make the three-time major winner the oldest Open Champion in its 151 editions and would certainly lead to him becoming Europe’s most aged Ryder Cup player in Italy this September.
Harrington has made little secret of his desire to return to the team event at Marco Simone, two years on from his heavy loss to the United States as a captain at Whistling Straits, and confirmed yesterday that while he does not foresee getting a pick from his successor Luke Donald, he will return to the DP World Tour to try and make the 2023 team by right.
A victory in the next few weeks would enhance that claim, as would a good week here at Hoylake.
Victory on the PGA Champions Tour last month and a runner-up finish in the PGA Senior Championship following a play-off loss to Steve Stricker suggest the competitive juices are being matched by decent form, and Harrington started strongly at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open with rounds of 66 and 67 before a disappointing weekend at the Renaissance Club.
Yet a month shy of his 52nd birthday, he is still talking up his credentials with justification.
“People would say ‘you’re playing great golf’ and they look at the physicality and say it looks better than it was back in in 2007 and 2008 (when he won his back-to-back Opens).
“It’s obviously different now, it’s different equipment, different balls. The game, some of it physically seems as good or better than back in that day but obviously you’re competing in a different time, it’s a different standard at the moment.
"Relative to the field I certainly don’t feel like I’m as good as I was in 2007 and 2008 but relative to myself? Yeah, I’m pretty damn good at the moment compared to back then and well capable of going out and winning any week.”
Whether Harrington win this week remains to be seen but asked if he saw either Lowry and McIlroyin the frame come Sunday, he replied: “Clearly either of them... Rory can win any week. He's won on this golf course.
“It's an interesting course. It really suits somebody who hits it very straight because there are a lot of lay ups and a lot of treading between bunkers. To that extent Rory has a little bit of an advantage in that some of the trouble he can carry. He always has a driving advantage and will clearly lead strokes gained off the tee as he does every week.
“But I don't know if this golf course is the one that gives him an incredible advantage this week. I'm not sure because yesterday he carried the bunker on two. But it was a four-iron-pitching wedge. Sometimes when you lay up on these bunkers, you're hitting another four iron and he could hit driver over the top and hit nine.
"That's a big advantage. But we're hitting pitching wedge, he's hitting sand wedge or lob wedge.. So I'm not sure if this is, even though he's won here, I'm not sure if there's a standout 'Oh, this is a big advantage to him on this particular golf course’.
"He will just have to play better than everybody else, which is well capable of doing. And Shane obviously loves links golf and is very comfortable with his game at the moment, I think he's obviously turned the corner a lot in the greens.
"And I think, yes, he has a win in him at any moment so it could again be his week.”
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