Rónán MacNamara in Portrush
Make no mistake about it, Pádraig Harrington has no intention of becoming a ceremonial golfer. He is here to win a third Open Championship and believes he can. However, he is ready to embrace the honour of hitting the first tee shot on Thursday morning at Royal Portrush.
The 53-year-old, a champion golfer in 2007 and 2008, will take over the honour bestowed upon Darren Clarke here six years ago. There is a fine line between the moment being an honour and a ceremonial shot for a has been, but the R&A have struck the right chord in pairing him with Ryder Cup star Nicolai Hojgaard and home hero Tom McKibbin at 06:35.
Having previously turned down the honour at other Open venues, Harrington admits he didn’t hesitate this time around and would do it again if asked. But he is determined to make sure he backs his first tee shot up with hopefully a very meaningful shot on the 72nd green on Sunday.
“My goal is to hit the first shot and the last shot this week. So that’s in my head, that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m sure that the bookmakers would tell you that’s not a reality, but, you know, I have to prepare like if I get there on Sunday, and get myself in contention. I have to prepare to be ready for that moment.
“It is a ceremonial thing, but it is a great honour. I decided that the honour was more important than necessarily thinking I’m a, you know, I can accept that I’m in that position, put it like that for the honour.
“It is a tremendous honour and what it means to me is the fact I accepted it in the sense of I don’t want to be known as a ceremonial golfer. I don’t feel like I am at the moment. I’m prepared to put that aside to have that honour. I really do think it is a great honour just here in Ireland, here in Portrush.”
The first tee shot on the Dunluce Links is one of the most treacherous on the Open rota. We all know what happened to Rory McIlroy in 2019 and with out of bounds lurking left and right and a fairway bunker ready to gobble up any leaky shots, Harrington will be a bag of nerves when he emerges from the tunnel.
“I decided that this was a good time to do it Royal Portrush, and it doesn’t preclude me from doing it again. It’s not a comfortable tee shot for anybody. I accepted it before I actually thought about the tee shot. I’d be definitely very nervous about that tomorrow. I’ll be doing a bit of posing after I hit matter how bad the shot is. I’ll be holding my finish and pretending it’s a good one.”
Once the fist tee shot is away, Harrington’s mind will firmly be on putting a good score together and giving himself a platform to launch a concrete bid for a hat trick of Claret Jugs.
The Dubliner is in good form, he arrives just two weeks after winning the US Senior Open while he played all four rounds at the Scottish Open and has made his last two Open Championship cuts.
“I definitely feel like I can win an Open championship. Do I feel like I’m going to win this Open Championship? I would say I’m like a lot of times going into it, I wish it was a few more weeks. I have to play with what I’ve got tomorrow.
“I’ve got to create a reality in my head that I can win and I’ve got to be mentally prepared that if I’m in contention on Sunday afternoon, I’ve got to mentally prepare for that position, get my head around it and it might be a long shot to a lot of people, but it feels pretty good to me.
“It would be an incredible achievement at my age (53) to win an Open. To win it here back in Ireland would be incredible on top of that.
“As I said, 2019 was a phenomenal achievement for the Open to come here. Then it was a phenomenal achievement for Shane to win it, that was the icing on the cake.
‘You can wish for it, but you can’t expect something like that. For us to do it again, any of the Irish guys to come out here and win again would be astounding. Yes, I would like it to be me, that’s what I have to plan for in my head.
“But I’ll freely admit that I’ll settle for any Irish winner this week.”
Harrington is always good for a yarn. He expects McIlroy to contend over the next four days while he also thinks the opening grouping isn’t a favourable draw for McKibbin who will already be nervous enough without getting swept up in ceremonial matters on the first tee.
He also had plenty to say about Scottie Scheffler’s bizarre yet incredibly insightful five minute existential monologue on Tuesday where the world number one questioned the point in everything and how he doesn’t allow himself to enjoy winning, touching on the empty feeling he often feels despite his continued success.
Harrington, on the other hand, makes sure he gives himself enough time to enjoy his latest victory and he has been lapping up the well done’s from fans and well wishers in Portrush this week.
“I’m not sure what he was trying to articulate, and I’m not going, wouldn’t be putting words in his head, but I know I’m still celebrating my US Open senior win, so and it goes on for weeks. Everytime somebody says, well done to me, I get a little, you know, bit of acceptance and enjoyment out of it.
“I don’t want to compare myself to him, but I genuinely have still have a real love for this game. I enjoy every bit of it, it brings me tremendous satisfaction and I don’t think I have to shy away from that, just because I love golf doesn’t make me a bad father or a bad parent or anything.
“They’re separate entities you can enjoy everything there is about golf and and still be good elsewhere and do the right things. I just love playing golf, you know, I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. Actually, if I wasn’t doing this, I’d be sitting in front of the shopping channel spilling ice cream on myself buying packages that I never opened. So maybe golf is saving my life, but you still feel fulfilled on the golf course.
“Even even a shot fulfils me on the golf course going and hitting shots in the range and and to be honest now, if you look, you know, I grew up, I remember watching Christie Senior hit shots out in Royal Dublin. And he like this is past his prime of playing, he’d be 65 years of age, and he took sheer joy at practice shots.
“If you hear stories about the likes of Hogan, I think Hogan was the happiest when he was that age hitting shots on the range. I’m like that, you know, I like competing, no doubt about it. I really like competing, but sometimes it can be hard work at times but I love that. I love taking shots and the imagination of what dreaming of what can be.
“I’ve often said this later on in my life I wish I spent more time enjoying my wins when they happen and when I win now I make sure I enjoy this moment and if it’s a big win I’m not averse for people taking a couple of weeks off and really enjoying it.
“As a young man, I won tournaments on a Sunday night I’d be thinking about what I’m going to do tomorrow to get better, whereas now I’m just thinking I’m going to enjoy this for a couple of weeks.”
Leave a comment