Paul McGinley is refusing to rule out Pádraig Harringtons’ chances at The Open next week should the weather play ball as the 54-year-old looks to land a fourth major championship title.
Harrington has always harboured hopes of rolling the dice one more time on the back nine of a Major Sunday and next week’s Open at Royal Birkdale, the site of his second Claret Jug in 2008, could represent an opportunity for him to surprise a few, especially if the weather turns nasty on the Southport coast.
The Dubliner is in flying form with a top-20 at the PGA Championship in difficult conditions and after winning the US Senior Open last weekend. McGinley also pointed to Tom Watson’s near miss at the 09 Open at Turnberry aged 59 as another reason to not rule Harrington out next week.
“Why not? I mean, Tom Watson [challenged] at 59,” he said. “I think Pádraig needs bad weather. If it was bad weather, his attitude is so good, and he loves fighting and battling.
“If it’s weather like this, the American players, particularly, will be able to overpower the golf course and do their thing.
“But if it gets a bit gnarly and a bit windy and a bit difficult and guys get frustrated, how could you rule Pádraig out?
“With the way he plays still, how competitive he still is, and on a links golf course, you know, I think his days of winning the Masters or winning the US Open are gone, but not at winning the Open Championship. That’s the one, as Tom Watson proved, where the old wily player can still compete.”
Harrington will get some links preparation in at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open alongside Rory McIlroy, Tom McKibbin and Shane Lowry. Lowry himself has struggled for some form after two gut wrenching near misses in Dubai and Florida earlier this year.
The Offaly man parted ways with caddie Darren Reynolds after three years and returned to an old flame in Dermot Byrne in a bid to reignite his season. Doubts about Lowry’s mental fortitude have been cast this season but McGinley insists he has no worries about him getting back to his very best.
“I’ve absolutely no worries at all about Shane,” McGinley said of Lowry, who will be looking for a confidence-boosting performance ahead of The Open in this week’s Genesis Scottish Open.
“Professional golf is not a straight line. Everybody has lows and ups and downs. I certainly think that not winning in Palm Beach during the year and not winning in Dubai with two great chances has certainly affected him, and there’s a bit of a knock-on effect from that.
“All it will take now to get him back on the horse again is one good performance, which he’s well capable of.
“The Open should suit him. His game is still so good. You look at a player’s underlying statistics to see if there’s a big dip in any of the categories and there’s nothing there.”
McGinley points to Lowry’s winning putt in Bethpage Black’s Ryder Cup in September as evidence that the 2019 Open champion can handle the pressure.
“He doesn’t have the confidence over the line that he certainly had. But you look at what he did in the Ryder Cup last year. I said to him, listen, you would swap not winning Dubai and not winning in Palm Beach for what you did at the Ryder Cup.
“For people to say that you can’t handle the pressure or the head’s gone, whatever… what he did in the cauldron of the Ryder Cup, when all the momentum was going against him, that’s what was so impressive, because things were going really pear-shaped for Europe.
“For him to be able to come down those last few holes and birdie that last hole the way he did was just phenomenal.
“So, I have absolutely no worries whatsoever about Shane coming back into form, and it’s just the natural evolution of being a professional golfer; it’s just swings and roundabouts.”
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