Golf Dunhill Links Championship
Yesterday, as a bitter wind whipped across the dunes, those golfers - professionals and amateurs - practising on the old links at St Andrews - one of three courses being used in the €4.3 million Dunhill Links championship - could only be thankful for cashmere sweaters and woolly hats.
Padraig Harrington, for one, was wrapped snugly in his jumper and, as he prepared to defend his title, coyly admitted he has been guilty of some stargazing in the past couple of days.
Firstly, he was seated at a window table in a restaurant when someone he thought he recognised passed by. It was Ian Botham, the cricketer. Then, he got into a hotel lift, where the actor Hugh Grant was already nursing a corner. And, at the pre-tournament reception, he was rubbing shoulders with another actor, Samuel L Jackson. "You just look at him and think, 'wow, he is cool', don't you?" remarked Harrington.
It is such sideshows which make this week, as Harrington observed, "different" from regular tournaments. "There's nothing about this week that you can say is the same about any other week, that's for sure," he insisted. "There will be a winner at the end of the week, but everything else is different."
The field consists of 168 professionals - including world number two Ernie Els, the leader of the European Tour Order of Merit, and Vijay Singh, the leader of the US Tour money list- who play alongside an amateur over three courses (St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns) for the first three rounds, after which the cut is made, with Sunday's final round held over the Old Course. Indeed, the top eight players on the Volvo Order of Merit are in the field and, for anyone with aspirations on catching Els, this is a big week indeed.
"There's a bit of charisma about the event. Okay, it is a bit of a show but, personally, I think it is great to see some of these guys in real life. You know, sporting stars, movie stars, TV stars. It kind of adds to the whole show," said Harrington.
"It's not just a golf tournament. The tournament happens when you play well and it gets serious. But it's not a normal event and should never be treated as a normal event . . . as a professional golfer it makes you feel special that these guys want to come and play with you, whereas you're watching them on TV and in movies and they are stars in their own right."
Eight Irish professionals are competing: Harrington, who once again partners the businessman JP McManus in the team event; the in-form Darren Clarke, who teams up with financier Dermot Desmond; Paul McGinley, who will be lining up putts for former US vice-president Dan Quayle; Ronan Rafferty, who has supermodel Jodie Kidd as a golfing partner; Peter Lawrie, who will play alongside Marie Jordan, wife of Formula One's Eddie; Gary Murphy, who plays with Dublin businessman John Mahony; Des Smyth, who returns from the US Champions Tour to partner Dublin businessman John Gleeson, and Graeme McDowell, who is paired with Gilles Berdugo.
For all the stargazing, Harrington knows it is near time he started to deliver the goods on the course. A year ago, he arrived here just days after the Ryder Cup and was so mentally and physically drained he played only nine holes of practice.
"I was totally out of character, did everything the opposite possibly to that which I do in a normal tournament - and I played well," said Harrington, who beat Eduardo Romero in a play-off. "It was very much a question of, 'I needed that', and I wanted to win. My focus was just on getting the job done."
By the standards he has set over the past couple of years, Harrington, now down to fifth in the Order of Merit, and who hasn't won since the TPC of Europe in Hamburg in May, knows it is time he produced something.
"Without a doubt, it is about time. Bob Rotella's key motive is, if you turn up to play a tournament, you should solely be there to win. If you're not there for that reason, you should have a week off and practice. This year, I feel as defending champion there is a little bit more pressure, more expectations, but hopefully I will get it going and enjoy the golf. I'm playing with Darren (Clarke), so it's all good company."
Having missed the cut in the German Masters last week, Harrington took the opportunity to spend some time at home with wife Caroline and baby Patrick before taking in two days of practice with his coach, Bob Torrance, here in Scotland. "There comes a time when you say, 'yes, I'm ready to play golf now'. I've put in a lot of hard work over the past five years and hopefully that will stand to me," insisted Harrington.
He won't start as favourite today - that honour will probably go to Els and Singh, with Clarke the pick of the Europeans - but, if ever Harrington wanted to return to a happy hunting ground to encourage some good form, then this birthplace of golf is ideal.