Irish Open preview: Padraig Harrington remains convinced the subtle changes in his game will stand him in good stead. The three-time major winner, who is attempting to improve his swing, hopes his quest for improvement can only pay dividends in the long term.
Harrington has dropped from third to eighth in the world since capturing the third major of his career last August and has not had a top 10 finish since January.
But, on the eve of the Irish Open at Baltray, the Dubliner is unshaken in his belief that he is doing the right thing by making changes to his swing.
“I’ve been strengthening my weaknesses, but weakening my strengths and obviously that’s not a great idea when you’re looking for performance in the short term,” he said.
“But it’s not a bad idea for the long term.”
The next major is next month’s US Open and Harrington added: “I do need to have it all sorted out in the next three weeks and I fully expect to have that done.”
His build-up to Bethpage Black will again not include next week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the flagship event of the European Tour.
On that the Dubliner, who is making a 16-minute daily commute by helicopter from his home to Baltray this week, admitted he felt pressure to change his mind.
“Not from the Tour, just from being a member of the European Tour,” he stated. “The Tour is very good to me and I want to give back as much as I can.
“I know the Tour would like me to play, I know my fellow pros would like me to play and I would like to play to a certain extent. If they make the changes (the greens are being dug up after next week) I’ll change my schedule to make sure it fits.”
Even though the Irish Open comes straight after the Players Championship in Florida, where he disappointed again by finishing down in 49th place, this week was always going to fit.
Harrington calls it “my fifth major of the year” and considers his victory at Adare Manor two years ago one of the top achievements of his glittering career. No home player had triumphed since John O’Leary in 1982.
Ideally, though, he would like to see it later in the season.
“It’s borderline too early and I’d love it to get back to what it was maybe in the 80s or 90s, to have a standing that all of the players love coming and wanting to play,” he said.
Harrington is the top attraction, of course, but he is far from the only one.
Rory McIlroy has quickly established himself as the most exciting young player in the game, while John Daly’s second place in Italy on Sunday has thrust the 43-year-old American back into the limelight.
Other stars chasing a first prize include Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal.
Westwood has taken on Billy Foster as his caddie after parting company with Alastair McLean.
Tee-times in the first round of The 3 Irish Open, Co Louth GC, Baltray, Drogheda
(Irl & Gbr unless stated,
Irishin bold)
Starting at hole 1
0720Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Scott Drummond, Paul Waring
0730Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Scott Strange (Aus), Pablo Martin (Spa)
0740John Bickerton, Bradley Dredge, Marc Warren
0750Sam Little, Paul Broadhurst, Pedro Figueiredo (Por)
0800Marcel Siem (Ger), David Drysdale, Phillip Price
0810Estanislao Goya (Arg), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Mikko Ilonen (Fin)
0820Peter O'Malley (Aus), David Horsey, Roope Kakko (Fin)
0830Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Graeme Storm
0840Julien Clement (Swi), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), David Carter
0850Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Simon Dyson, Patrik Sjoland (Swe)
0900Wil Besseling (Ned), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Lee Slattery
0910Jamie Donaldson, Barry Lane, Richard Bland
0920Michael Jonzon (Swe), Simon Thornton,Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra)
1220Stephen Gallacher, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Chapchai Nirat (Tha)
1230Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), David Howell, Gareth Maybin
1240Michael Campbell (Nzl), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Soren Kjeldsen (Den)
1250Oliver Wilson, Paul McGinley,John Daly (USA)
1300 Padraig Harrington,Lee Westwood, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)
1310Thomas Bjorn (Den), Michael Hoey, Peter Lawrie
1320Peter Hanson (Swe), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Francesco Molinari (Ita)
1330Kenneth Ferrie, Soren Hansen (Den), Michael McGeady
1340Marcus Fraser (Aus), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Scott Arnold (Hkg)
1350Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Steve Webster, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa)
1400Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Oliver Fisher
1410Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Steven O'Hara, Alexandre Rocha (Bra)
1420Simon Wakefield, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Eamonn Brady
Starting at hole 10
0720Anthony Kang (USA), Ross McGowan, Nick Dougherty
0730Anthony Wall, Brett Rumford (Aus), Paul Lawrie
0740 Darren Clarke,Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Thomas Levet (Fra)
0750Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Graeme McDowell,Ross Fisher
0800Richard Finch, Colin Montgomerie, Rory McIlroy
0810Anders Hansen (Den), Des Smyth, Damien McGrane
0820Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Alexander Noren (Swe), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
0830Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Stephen Dodd, Robert Rock
0840Richard Sterne (Rsa), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Gary Murphy
0850Gregory Havret (Fra), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind)
0900 Barrie Trainor, Shane Lowry,Seve Benson
0910Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jonathan Caldwell,Rafael Echenique (Arg)
0920Chris Wood, Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Benn Barham
1220Peter Hedblom (Swe), Robert Dinwiddie, Mark Foster
1230 John Dwyer, Eoin Arthurs,Klas Eriksson (Swe)
1240Johan Edfors (Swe), David Dixon, Anton Haig (Rsa)
1250Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Maarten Lafeber (Ned)
1300Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Richard Green (Aus)
1310James Kingston (Rsa), Gary Orr, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg)
1320Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Hennie Otto (Rsa), David Frost (Rsa)
1330Taco Remkes (Ned), Phillip Archer, Noel Fox
1340 Damian Mooney,Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Philip Walton
1350Robert Giles, Gary Lockerbie, Francois Delamontagne (Fra)
1400Alastair Forsyth, David Lynn, Mark Brown (Nzl)
1410 John Kelly,Simon Khan, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)
1420Zane Scotland, Richie Ramsay, Rhys Davies
