GOLF BRITISH OPEN:IF IT weren't so serious, it would actually be funny. Not Billy Connolly funny, more M-A-S-H. Just a month after Tiger Woods won the US Open with one good leg, Pádraig Harrington - it seems - will attempt to defend his British Open championship here at Royal Birkdale with one fit hand after sustaining an injury to his right wrist in a gym exercise.
The incident occurred on Saturday night last, just hours after he had retained his Irish PGA title at The European Club. Harrington damaged the wrist while hitting a driver into an impact bag in his gym, an exercise designed to strengthen a player's wrist and one he has done for years without any problems.
Only, this time, it resulted in an injury that has severely restricted the Dubliner's preparations for the defence of the Claret Jug he won in a play-off with Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie last year.
"If it wasn't the Open I wouldn't be here; I'd have pulled out on Sunday. It is definitely an injury that you wouldn't risk," said Harrington, who has received intensive treatment from his sports chiropractor Dale Richardson.
The technical term for Harrington's injury is, said Richardson, "a first-degree strain of the pronator quadratus . . . Pádraig strained that, and there's also a problem with his flexor. It's a strain of the soft tissues in some of the soft muscles that stabilise the wrist."
But Richardson is confident he will have the champion fit to tee up in tomorrow's first round.
"I'm not concerned at this point," said the Australian, who had to provide on-course treatment for Harrington during the 2002 USPGA at Hazeltine when the player was stricken by a neck injury and unable to walk, never mind swing a club.
Although the injury is worrying to Harrington and obviously limiting his preparations for the title defence, Richardson feels he will be able to play.
"I haven't been concerned since I first saw the injury so long as he doesn't overdo it . . . by Thursday, he should be able to commit to every shot," he added.
Playing with an injury is nothing new to Harrington, who as recently as two weeks ago at the European Open had problems with a recurring neck injury.
Harrington limited himself to nine holes of practice yesterday, with the strict instruction from Richardson not to hit any shots out of the rough. After playing the front nine - alongside Damien McGrane and Woody Austin - Harrington again sought out Richardson and found the wrist had, as expected, weakened. On rejoining his playing partners, he simply walked the back nine on a familiarisation exercise and occasionally made a few chips and putts.
"Dale's quite happy he can get a job done on it so long as I don't overdo it or don't do anything to it between now and then. I'll definitely be teeing it up.
"The only risk would be doing more damage at some stage during the tournament, but at the moment I'm delighted I got to play nine holes and it was pain free," said Harrington.
Still, Harrington - who hadn't been able to even hold a club on Saturday night or throughout Sunday - is concerned about the short-term nature of the injury.
"Probably the biggest worry now is if I hit it in the rough during the tournament and risk doing something to it and it flares up again. That would give me a bit of a problem.
"But I'm much happier now (after playing nine holes) than I was this morning. It is inflamed, like a sprain, and I will probably strap it during the tournament," said Harrington, who has also been taking anti-inflammatory tablets for the problem.
Harrington, who said after playing the front nine yesterday the injury had "gone fuzzy, tingly", as if wrapped in cotton wool, aims to play at least nine holes again today but also plans to hit a shot out of the rough for the first time.
Aware no player can possibly expect to negotiate 72 holes without going into the rough at some stage of the championship, he said he'd attempt a shot out of the rough "just to convince myself that I can . . . I'm very confident I can play. Something would have to happen to make it worse for me not to finish this tournament.
"I'm just a little bit wary that it is on the edge and I don't want to do anything more to it."
Early yesterday Harrington - who plays alongside Retief Goosen and Justin Leonard in tomorrow's first round - returned the Claret Jug to the RA. "I did hand it back and point out that I could do with a smaller box to travel better on airplanes . . . so, hopefully, when I get it back on Sunday night, it'll be in a little tighter box so I can bring it with me everywhere."
Fitness permitting, of course.
