Flashback time. We’ve been here before with Pádraig Harrington, the old dog for the hard road and all of that. Shows savvy, too! When play was suspended here on the Old Course due to a flooded links, the Dubliner took advantage of the situation by heading to a tour van near the driving range and grabbing an additional nap. No squelching in puddles for him.
"I was the only one in the van. You know, if it comes down to it, I could sleep in the locker room . . . there's no stress for me," said Harrington, who dozed away in the knowledge that his faithful caddie, Ronan Flood, was wide awake and attuned to how the weather delay would lead to a rescheduling of tee times.
There would be no danger of sleeping in.
As it transpired, there was a lengthy three hours and 14 minutes suspension in play. What Harrington would later describe as, "a beautiful delay". Not just for the fact that he got some additional rest time, whilst the green staff worked to rid the links of floodwater, but because – on belatedly hitting the links along with Marc Warren and Wenchong Liang – the weather had improved hugely.
Harrington manoeuvred his way up the leaderboard with a second round 69 for 141, three-under-par. Not that it was all plain sailing, for sure.
“At one stage, through five, I started to get into ‘it ain’t going to be my day, I’m going to miss the cut’. Then, I was thinking to myself, ‘Marc (Warren) was (contending) and I’m not far behind him . . . make some birdies and get myself into the tournament’. I picked myself up quickly.”
What happened was that Harrington rolled in a long putt on the seventh for birdie to counteract the sloppy bogey he had picked up on the second.
“Marc holed a big one in before me. I was really disappointed with my pitch, I hit a lovely pitch and it just stopped at the very top. Another yard and it was stone dead. I’m standing there and one part of me is thinking ‘how unlucky I am’ but as I got over it I was thinking ‘well, maybe this is the putt I’m going to hole today’.
“It just fell in very nicely. It should have kick-started my round but it didn’t. It took another five holes. the birdie on 13 was a big one. You never play 13 thinking you’re going to make birdie but that was the start.”
Magnificent shot
From there on, he was the one in control. He rolled up his sleeves, kept his head down and used the good vibes emanating from Warren. On the 13th hole, Harrington played a magnificent shot, hitting a three-quarter five-iron from 172 yards that held up on the wind and finished 10 feet from the flag. He rolled in the birdie putt. One against the head.
Then, on the par five 14th, he pitched and putted for birdie; and, after missing an eight-footer for birdie on the 17th, the two-time champion responded by driving to the left of the par four 18th where he was left with a 58-yard pitch shot that actually reminded him of the one he played on the 72nd hole of the 2007 Open at Carnoustie, without the burn.
“I hit the same type of chip shot. Actually I hit a three-quarter chip in Carnoustie, I was hitting a half one there. That’s the difference the grooves make. It’s very hard to get the ball to fly off the grooves, but it was a nice one.”
What it did was allow Harrington sign for a 69 that moved him in the right direction to contend, and meant he could be assured of making the cut. Those worries from early in his second round had been replaced with a new sense of purpose. His visit to the cinema last night to see The Terminator with no prospect of an early alarm call fitted the bill, for sure.
It’s been a while since Harrington has seriously contended in the Majors, the last time in the US Open at the Olympic Club where he finished two shots back of Webb Simpson.
But he has won two Claret Jugs, and he won the Honda Classic earlier this season on the PGA Tour. Does the experience of those Open wins or the Honda Classic stand to him now? “Neither,” he responded, “only if I got there on Sunday afternoon with nine holes to go. I’ve 27 holes to play first. If they go well, then the fact I’ve won in Birkdale, Carnoustie and the Honda would be a big bonus.”
Job done
What you would imagine to be in his favour is experience, of knowing how to get the job done. But that is not what Harrington would like.
“I was always brought up to believe experience is a good thing. At my stage, I’m actually believing experience is a terrible thing. It has its advantages and disadvantage. It’s great to be young and innocent.”
At 43 years of age and with three Majors behind him, Harrington is only too aware of what lies ahead. He is up for it.
“I’ve been working hard on different aspects of my game. Physically it’s pretty strong, and then just mentally I found myself in a better place this week. I haven’t hit my wedges well, that’s all. I kind of had a good attitude out on the golf course all week, so I’ll hopefully take that into the weekend.”
