Harrington Hoping for More 66's

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Padraig Harrington is relishing the atmosphere at Crans-sur-Sierre as the Dubliner returns to Switzerland for the first time in 13 years to tee up in this week’s Omega European Masters.

The Irishman last played this event back in 2000, but is clearly enjoying his return to the stunning mountain venue. Although not always a fan of the mountain course opened his account in the Pro-am on Wednesday with a round of 66.

“Clearly it is right up there as the most beautiful venue we play tournament golf at around the world,” Harrington said. “It is a beautiful place, let alone the golf course. Secondly, it always has a great atmosphere here. 

“The course is in the centre of the town and everyone seems to be into their golf here. You walk around the town and there are three caddie carts outside the pub because they haven’t made it home. It reminds you of home because a lot of links courses at home are like that and the clubhouse is nearly in the town and everyone, even if they don’t play, are involved. 

“Here you can’t go ten yards without seeing a poster for the event. Every shop window has clubs and balls in it. It really is a nice atmosphere. I’m staying in a golf hotel and it is stunning, with stunning views. There is a putting course in front of us and I am going to have a game against my caddie - the big match of the week! It really looks difficult too; there is a volcano hole and I don’t know how you play it!”

While the three-time Major Champion is enjoying matters off the course this week, Harrington knows there is plenty of work to be done on it after five years without a European Tour title.

And the 42 year old feels he has a good idea of what is required if he is to end that run.

“Two six unders and two two unders would be pretty close,” he added. “It’s really hard. There are some short holes, but there is a lot of difficultly around the greens. 

“The condition of the course is immaculate and there is a substantial difference in the quality and condition of the course from back when I played it.” 

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Harry Needs Putter for Major Four

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Padraig Harrington grappled with demons of self-doubt on the greens, as he failed to register a birdie in his third-round 77, nine strokes worse than an impressive 68 by Garcia.

Harrington's faint hopes of carving out a top-10 finish at the 2013 Open expired.

After closing with a one-under-par 70 yesterday, Harrington finished in a share of 54th on 11-over, lamenting a paltry tally of six birdies in 72 holes at Muirfield, precisely the same as in last month's US Open at Merion.

Throw in a missed cut at April's Masters and it has been a fruitless and frustrating season for Harrington at the Majors.

Yet unlike Garcia, who took a complete three-month break from golf in 2010 saying, "I need to miss the game a little bit", Harrington is a relentless fighter.

No matter how torrid things get for him on the course, he will battle on. With three Major trophies on his sideboard in Rathmichael, he could rest on his laurels. "I could, but that won't happen," he insisted.

"A lot of pressure comes with winning a Major, including the frustrations of not getting that high again. The reward only comes when you stop playing, and I have no intention of stopping!"

Much was made in print of a tetchy remark by Garcia to a rules official on the way to the 15th tee on Saturday when he complained that telling Harrington they were no longer on the clock led to "the automatic handbrake" being engaged again.

Under the terms of their 'Valhalla Accord', neither will say a word against the other.

Yet Garcia's little exchange with the walking official and the couple of occasions he'd rushed to the next tee and was ready to go before Harrington arrived illustrated the Spaniard's frustration at the amount of time and attention his playing companion devoted to even the shortest putt.

Watching Harrington putt can be excruciating these days, though he insists there is no inclination to break the belly putter he has used since May over his own head.

Quite the contrary, in fact, as Harrington said: "I'm delighted with my putting!"

Instead, he attributed his failure to make birdie on any of the par-three or par-four holes at Muirfield to a continuing "lack of trust" in his reading of greens.

Never mind the swing changes Harrington infamously made after his world-conquering feats in 2007 and 2008.

He has slumped out of golf's upper echelons because of the negative impact the 2010 ban on box-grooves had on his wedge play and, principally, a marked decline in his confidence on the putting green.

Albeit controversial, the belly putter appears to have put manners on Harrington's stroke.

This leaves his difficulty reading and believing the line of longer putts as the Dubliner's biggest bugbear.

Languishing well outside the world top 50, Harrington is ineligible for the cash and point-rich Bridgestone World Golf Championship at Firestone next week, so he plays the Reno-Tahoe Open, where the modified stableford points scoring system will be anathema to a golfer struggling to make birdies.

After Reno, Harrington plays the PGA at Oak Hill, hoping to cement his place in the 125-man field for the first FedEx Cup play-off, The Barclays.

These are hard, frustrating times but the Irishman firmly believes redemption is just a birdie putt or two away.

With another forty plus year old winning at Muirfield, hot on the heels of a similarly aged Ernie Els in Royal Lytham and Darren Clarke at Royals St George at the previous Open Championship, Harrington knows there is still a reach major chance within reach.

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Harry Happy with Major Haul

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Padraig Harrington, who once won three major titles in the space of 13 months, insists he will be happy with his career if he never wins another.

Harrington won the Open in 2007 at Carnoustie and became the first European to successfully defend the title since 1906 when he triumphed again 12 months later at Birkdale.

When he also won the US PGA Championship three weeks later it meant the Dubliner had won three of the last six major championships contested, but that victory at Oakland Hills remains his last in any tournament on a major worldwide golf tour.

The 41-year-old has certainly not given up trying, finishing eighth in the Masters and fourth in the US Open respectively last year, but has come to realise that he already has plenty to be proud of.

"That's my one piece of advice whenever I see someone win a major. I remind them this isn't going to happen every week. Make the most of when it happens and enjoy it," Harrington said ahead of next week's Open at Muirfield, where he finished one shot outside the play-off in 2002.

"They don't happen as often as you think they will happen, even in a great career. If you look at my contemporaries, Tiger has actually won 14, and then you've got Ernie (Els) and Phil (Mickelson) have won four, but you really don't win that many majors. That's the way of the world.

"I played a practice round with Nick Faldo at Augusta one year and he had already got his sixth major, and he's working so hard on the golf course. I asked him why and he's just trying to win one more.

"I hope I'm not that person, that I can enjoy the three I've won as much as I'm trying to win as many more as I can. You do have to stand back at times and say three is pretty good, let's enjoy that.

"I'm always going to give it 100 per cent. Some kids you need to give a kick up the backside to get them out there to work.

"I'm the opposite; I need to taper things down. In order to get four and five and six and seven, I need to accept that I've done well as it is. The fourth one is not going to make the first three any better."

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