When Sergio Garcia’s putt lipped out in 2007, Pádraig Harrington seized the opportunity and shortly after, the Claret Jug, igniting Ireland’s major haul. From McDowell’s Pebble Beach breakthrough to McIlroy’s tear-soaked 2025 Masters, one shot reshaped golf’s history. Sporting history is littered with ‘what ifs’.
What if Randal Kolo Muani’s shot had been six inches lower or six inches higher in the final minute of extra time in the 2022 World Cup Final? Lionel Messi, probably the greatest player ever to play the game, would’ve likely ended his career without the accolade coveted most.
What if PJ McGrath had deemed super sub Séamus Darby’s clever nudge on Tommy Doyle as more of a push and given a free out, denying Offaly a famous All-Ireland win in 1982 and delivering Kerry a five-in-a-row?
What if the Portland Trail Blazers, torn between selecting Sam Bowie or Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft, had gone with the latter instead of the former?
What if Joe Frazier’s trainer, Eddie Futch, hadn’t throw in the towel ahead of the 15th and final round of the Thrilla in Manilla? Unbeknownst to Futch or Frazier, Muhammad Ali had instructed Angelo Dundee to cut off his gloves – Dundee refused – and Ali later said “Frazier quit just before I did.”
What if the infamous bust up between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy in Saipan had never occurred?
What if Henry Shefflin hadn’t got injured in the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final and had to be replaced after 13 minutes of the final against Tipperary with the Cats going for their own five-in-a-row?
While these ‘what ifs’ span sports, golf’s fine margins, like a single putt in 2007, reshaped Ireland’s sporting destiny.
What if Sergio Garcia’s putt on the 72nd hole of the Open Championship at Carnoustie had lipped-in instead of lipping out?
There aren’t many golfers with greater mental resolve than Pádraig Harrington – his recovery to make double bogey on the 18th hole after hitting it into the water twice on his own 72nd hole that year is evidence of that, as was his response in birdieing the first playoff hole to take a control that he’d never loosen his grasp on – but had that double cost him the Championship, would he have been able to overcome the devastation and still become the man to end 60 years – and it would’ve been 60 years and counting – of Irish Major Championship drought?
Harrington was a much better player than Jean van de Velde ever was, but over a quarter of a century on from his debacle at Carnoustie, the Frenchman remains synonymous with 72nd hole collapses.
By claiming the Claret Jug that year, Harrington opened the door for two decades of Irish success on the main stage, to the extent that, after the United States, no nation has won more Major Championships than little old Ireland in the past 18 years.
Would Harrington have had the belief and the courage to play the final nine holes in four-under a year later at Birkdale? Would he have opted to layup on the 17th and protect a two-stroke lead instead of going for broke and pulling off one of the greatest shots in Open Championship history and making eagle?
Without being a two-time major champion, would he have had the nerve to hole the 25-footer for par on 16, the 12-footer for birdie on 17, and the 18-footer for par on 18 in the final round of the PGA Championship just a month later? Each time, his main challenger and playing partner Garcia was inside him and likely to hole.
Would Graeme McDowell have had the belief that he could win the US Open at Pebble Beach were it not for Harrington’s triple Major success? After all, they’d been Ryder Cup teammates just a few weeks after Harrington’s win at Oakland Hills and only Justin Rose and Ian Poulter had earned more points for the European side than the Portrush debutant. If Harrington could do it, and he could more than justify his place in the blue and yellow of Europe alongside, why couldn’t he?
Rory McIlroy was already capable of doing things with a golf ball that Harrington and McDowell could only dream of, but without Harrington breaking down the barrier and McDowell showing that there was no reason why multiple Irishmen couldn’t join the party, would Rory have had the confidence to attack the golf course on Sunday at Congressional a year later? And would his wins at Kiawah Island, Royal Liverpool, and Valhalla have followed in quick succession? Darren Clarke and Shane Lowry… You get the gist…
McIlroy has now become the unequivocal star of his generation, has become the first Irishman ever to win The Masters, and has done what only five previous players have ever managed to do, and when the names of those five are Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, it’s the most exclusive of exclusive clubs.
The expectation now is that he goes on to win major number six and major number seven, surpassing Nick Faldo as the most decorated European golfer of all time, and turning his eye towards Tom Watson’s eight and Hogan and Player’s nine. And maybe he will. He’s certainly got the talent and now, with the major monkey off his back, he’s got the time…
But let’s not lose sight of the fact that, over a decade ago, only a madman would’ve been willing to stake any serious money on him going zero-for-38 at Major Championships between then and 2025.
The outpouring of relief, the tears, the dramatic nature of the climax, and the 10 years of promise and despair made it worth the wait and makes it arguably the standout moment in Irish sporting history.
But it’s still worth remembering where it all started. Without Harrington’s breakthrough victory, it’s hard to imagine that we’d be sitting here with double digit major wins, never mind with five different players who’ve written their names into golfing lore.
But thankfully for Messi, Darby, Ali, the Chicago Bulls, Tipperary, and Irish golf as a whole, ‘what ifs’ make for interesting pub talk and the record books never lie.
Golf’s ‘what ifs’ remind us: one shot can rewrite history, and Ireland’s 11 majors prove it.
Leave a comment