SOUTHPORT, England — I’m staying near the course with some friends, one of whom has such a good grip it would give Lucas Glover grip envy. In other words, he knows golf. He said, speaking of Padraig Harrington’s first-round 80, “He must be so embarrassed.”
“I can almost guarantee you, he’s not,” I said.
We were both doing the same math. Harrington won the Open, here at Royal Birkdale, in 2008, playing the final round in the final twosome with Greg Norman his own self. (Nick Faldo, doing TV commentary, looked at Norman’s yip-free putting stroke, at age 53, and said, “It’s not fair.”) Earlier this month, Harrington won the U.S. Open at Scioto, the senior one, for the 50-and-over crowd. Paddy is 54.
“Why do you say that?” Bob asked. His hands are as tan as George Hamilton’s face. All that gardening, of some kind.
Because Paddy’s thing, forever, has been this: Do the best you can, and what you shoot you shoot.
Harrington followed his 80 (10 over, ‘round here) with a 69 ( one under). After he signed his card, I told him what Bob said, and I told him how I responded and I asked him to weigh in and take over. He weighed in and took over. This is what he said, lightly edited. Padraig Harrington doesn’t need much editing.
Saith Padraig:
“I was trying to beat the fat lady for quite a while on Thursday. The fat lady is 88. Two fat ladies: 88. I tried on every shot, and I was trying to break 80. I shot 80.
“Today, 69. The difference between Thursday and Friday? Just golf. I didn’t play any better today than I did yesterday. I can tell you after yesterday, I was keen to go out there and shoot a good number. I didn’t play well yesterday and probably should have shot 75. I didn’t play much better today. Yesterday I had a few breaks that didn’t help me. Today I got a few breaks that did. But there wasn’t a massive difference.”
In summation:
He wasn’t embarrassed by his 80.
He wasn’t particularly impressed by his 69.
He’s annoyed to have missed the cut.
But that’s how it goes. As Harrington says, “It’s golf.”
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.
