The Irish Golf Club Gazette: 03/09/15

3/09/2015

Harrington Not Down on Irish Open

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Padraig Harrington will be hoping to add a second Irish Open title to his glittering CV when he heads to Royal County Down for the Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation in May.

The 43 year old returned to the winners’ enclosure last week when he triumphed at the Honda Classic on the US PGA Tour, in doing so rising from 297th to 82nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.

The impressively clinical performance at PGA National in Florida was reminiscent of Harrington’s halcyon days of 2007, when he won the Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort shortly before a period of domination in the Majors, during which he claimed back-to-back Open Championships and the US PGA Championship in little more than a year.

The popular Irishman ended a 25-year wait for a home winner at Adare Manor when he beat Welshman Bradley Dredge in a play-off, which was a fitting result after several near-misses, including when he was joint runner-up in 2001 and 2004 and tied fifth in 2005.

Harrington added another runner-up finish in 2010, and in 2012, when the tournament was played in Northern Ireland – at Royal Portrush – for the first time in its long history, he was tied seventh.

Three years on and the Irish Open is heading back north of the border, and the 14-time European Tour winner is relishing making his competitive debut at Royal County Down from May 28-31.

“The Irish Open is my fifth Major and always one of the first events on my schedule, for obvious reasons,” said Harrington, who was the European Tour Number One in 2006. “Whilst it is always a special week for me, this year will be interesting as it’ll be the first time I’ve played at Royal County Down as a professional, so I’m really looking forward to getting there and seeing how the course has been set up.

“The last time the Irish Open was played in Northern Ireland, at Royal Portrush in 2012, it was a huge success and I was glad to be in the mix on the final day. The crowds were similar to a Major and generated a great atmosphere, and I’m sure it will be well attended again at Royal County Down.

“It’s great to see Rory involved and supporting the tournament, and it looks like it’ll be one of the strongest fields the Irish Open has ever had. It’s shaping up to be a great week and I look forward to being part of it.”

Harrington will be joined at Royal County Down by a star-studded field, including tournament host and World Number One Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Rickie Fowler and defending champion Mikko Ilonen.

More than 80,000 spectators are expected and tens of thousands of tickets have already been sold for the event, which is supported by Tourism Northern Ireland.

McIlroy Lacks Masters Confidence

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Rory McIlroy admitted he needs to feel more confident with his all-round game before he bids to complete a career grand slam at the Masters next month.

The world No 1 was at odds with his swing throughout the week in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, where he closed with a level-par 72 after hitting two balls into the water at the 18th.

McIlroy was forced to apologise for throwing his three-iron into a lake in disgust on Friday after pulling his second shot to the eighth, although he was reunited with the club ahead of his final round after Doral owner Donald Trump commissioned a diver to retrieve it.

The 25-year-old, who had played with 13 clubs on Saturday rather than the permitted 14, asked Trump "Is it dry?" before putting the club straight into his bag with a sheepish grin. He then told Trump he would give the club back following the tournament to be auctioned off for charity.

McIlroy jokingly threatened to dispose of the three-iron in the same fashion after tugging his third into the water at the last having already rinsed his drive.

He chipped in to salvage a double-bogey six which dropped him to one under for the tournament, eight shots behind champion Dustin Johnson, and McIlroy now has only one tournament on his schedule before he heads to Augusta National.

McIlroy will make his debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in a fortnight, and he remains determined to get his game into shape before the first major of the season.

"The game's just not quite there. I've got a week off now to try and work on it a little bit," said McIlroy, who missed the cut at last week's Honda Classic. "I am pretty disappointed with how I played overall. I felt it was a little better again today for the most part but a bit of a disappointing finish. But it's just not quite 100 percent.

"My inability to hit the ball right-to-left isn't something that you want going into Augusta. It is something I want to try and work on a little bit.

"Statistically, I hit the ball better this week. Still it's just not quite as comfortable as I would like. I've got a week off now to try to work on the game a bit and get a little sharper for Bay Hill.

"I'm tentative, a little bit scared to play certain shots, because I feel like I can't at the minute. So, hitting away from flags, trying to make sure that I am missing it in the right areas. Just playing quite conservatively, which is very much unlike me.

"I have just got to get back at it and try to figure out what I need to do, but I have no concerns about that. It's not something I need to play my way out of. It's just something that I need to stand on the range and beat balls until I feel comfortable with it again."

McIlroy will play practice rounds at Augusta National next week with his father Gerry and some friends, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

"I'll just be trying to hit shots that I need," he added. "I'll be hitting a lot of draws, or trying to hit a lot of draws, anyway."