Padraig Believes Open Time is Vital

Padraig Harrington has come up with a novel theory to explain why there have been 15 different winners in the last 15 Majors.

The 2007 and 2008 Open champion believes it is all to do with the fact modern young professionals no longer believe they have to serve an apprenticeship before winning Majors and so play much more aggressively as a result.

“I think golfers are evolving,” he said this afternoon after a practice round on the Lytham course where he finished tied 37th behind America’s David Duval in 2001 and cites Keegan Bradley who won on his first start in a Major at last year’s USPGA Championship as a classic example.

“When I came out on Tour in ’96 everybody felt they had to learn to win and maybe lose a few tournaments before they were allowed a win.

“That has all gone now. Now everybody seems to believe they can win every time they tee up and that has gradually seeped into the Majors as well.

“Golf has become a sprint rather than a marathon. Guys are now turning up trying to shoot 20 under par and believe that if it’s their week they are going to win no matter what event they are playing in.

“Most weeks there are probably 100 guys who are charging for the finishing line thinking they have a chance to win. This week there a probably 50 people in this field who believe they can win if they hit form and they are quite happy to keep charging and not back out.

“Dominating like Tiger is hard to do nowadays because there are too many aggressive players about.”

Against that backdrop the Irishman was wary about discussing his chances this week at Lytham but a tie for 8th in The Masters and a share of 4th place at the US Open suggest he is almost back to his best.

“I’m playing solidly and putting better,” he said. “That’s essentially it. It’s interesting. I’d say a lot of areas of my game are better but I’m still not winning.

“Golf is a strange game,” he added. “You can play better and still not win. That’s where I am at the moment but if I can keep playing solidly hopefully it will be good enough this week.”

Rory Opts for Low Key Open Approach

Rory McIlroy is hoping to keep under the radar as he starts out on his quest to win his first Open Championship this week at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

That would be in stark contrast to 12 months ago when home expectations were at their height after the Northern Ireland star had won the US Open at Congressional Country Club.

“Last year it was complete mayhem so this week it has been lovely just to be able to go about my business and prepare the way I wanted to,” he said.

“I have tried to keep it as low key as possible. I wanted to go about my business as quietly as possible and I felt that I have done that pretty well.”

The 23-year-old from Holywood admitted that in hindsight it had probably been wrong to take three weeks off before last year’s Open after capturing his first Major at the US national championship.

“It probably did affect my performance (at Royal St George’s) a little bit. I did plan on playing in the French Open but I knew my mind wouldn’t fully on it so that’s why I didn’t go in the end.

“But, obviously, that meant that by the time I got to Sandwich there were so many requests coming in, and so many things to do, I just didn’t play well enough to figure in the tournament.”

McIlroy also put his much-publicised comments about not being able to adapt to links golf down purely to his inability to live up to his own expectations that particular week.

“Those comments were just pure frustration,” he admitted. “I had really high expectations coming off a Major win. I really wanted to play well but (I didn’t and) I ended up blaming the weather, blaming the draw, blaming my luck, basically. Looking back on it a year later, I just didn’t play well enough to get into contention and didn’t handle the conditions as best as I could have.

The good news for fans of the young Irish player is that this year he arrived in Lytham with an altogether different attitude.

“I’m going to knuckle down, focus and keep fighting,” he said. “I will stay tough and try to shoot a low score even if the conditions are bad.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he added. “I feel like I’m hitting the ball great. I think it’s the best I have swung the club all year. It’s going to be all about keeping the ball in play, keeping it out of the bunkers and, if I can do that, I think I have a great chance.”