Padraig Plans to Loosen Up

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Padraig Harrington admits he needs to loosen up as he looks to rediscover his winning touch at Hoylake this week.

Harrington has not tasted victory in a top-level international tournament since the golden 13-month period in 2007-08 when he won back-to-back Opens and the USPGA Championship.

The 42-year-old has shown some encouraging signs of late by finishing in a tie for 14th at his home Irish Open last month and shooting a final-round 67 at the Scottish Open on Sunday.

Now he hopes to build on that and get back into a winning frame of mind for the 143rd Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Harrington said: "It could be a little bit better - I am right in that mode of (when) things aren't happening for me and I'm trying too hard.

"I'd love to tell you that it's easy not to try too hard, but I am just a little bit too intense.

"Good results make it easier to be a bit more blase and when things aren't going so well there's far too much grinding, there's not enough freedom and ease in the round for sure.

"That's where I am at, I need to get my head around it.

"Getting to Hoylake, the temptation will be to try hard, I need to find the right attitude.

"It's very hard to be relaxed when things aren't going for you, but I am too defensive, just not letting it go.

"The temptation will be to try hard, I need to find the right attitude." 

Padriag Harrington

"I don't mean I have a bad attitude, but I need to be a bit less intense about it. Obviously I always have been that way, but I am just over-trying a little bit."

Based on memory, Harrington expects the test coming up on the Wirral to be a tough one.

Harrington missed the cut by six shots the last time the Open was played on the Merseyside links in dry, hard conditions in 2006, and watched in awe as Tiger Woods won by two strokes.

Harrington said: "I just remember I was so scared putting the club on the ground, it was slipping.

"You lose your footing, there was only dust on the fairways. The fairways were quicker than the greens.

"It was in phenomenal condition but even for an experienced links player like myself, I found it scary. I hadn't seen anything like that for a long long time.

"I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was very green but it will be a good test no matter what."

Woods will command plenty of attention this week as he returns to major action for the first time since back surgery in March. The 14-time major winner missed both the US Masters and the US Open during a three-month lay-off.

Harrington believes the venue for his comeback is apt, as the scene of his greatest triumph.

"Nobody could have played the golf Tiger played that week," he said. "That was the best golf Tiger Woods has ever played."

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Murphy Masters Second at Motocaddy

Mark Murphy carded a final-round 72 on the par 71 course of the PGA Europro Tour Motocaddy Masters last Friday, taking home a cheque for £3,750 and one of Motocaddy’s recently launched M1 Lite Push Trolleys. 

Winner, Neil Chaudhuri, claimed his first professional title with victory in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s Motocaddy Masters at The Carrick on Loch Lomond.

The Leicester golfer collects £10,000 and a brand new top-of-the-range Motocaddy M3 Pro after finishing eight under par for his 54 holes, four clear of his nearest challengers. Mark Murphy and two-time European Tour winner Bradley Dredge shared second on four under.

Chaudhuri (www.specialisteyes.co.uk) began the day one clear of Murphy on six under, and shot a final-round 69 for two under, 

Dredge carded the best round of the day, a four-under 67 and takes home the same amount of £3,750 and a brand new Motocaddy S1 PRO. As Dredge and Murphy tied for second the Motocadd ytrollies were awarded based on Order of Merit position.

Winner Chaudhuri had led for most of the tournament and maintained control throughout the final round with birdies at 14 and 15 seeing him pull away from the challenge of Dredge, who carded a four-under final-round 67.

“It is my first win in nearly five years as a professional,” said Chaudhuri. “It means a lot because I really struggled for my first couple of years as a pro. I stuck at it and I feel really proud to have won today.

“I went to Qualifying School earlier in the year and only just got my card, so I felt lucky to be playing on the Tour this year. I have been improving week on week and it went pretty well this week.

“You have to avoid the bunkers here, they are so severe. I stuck to the same game plan all week and that was to go for accuracy.

“It is such a huge first prize to win £10,000 and that bumps you towards the top of the Order of Merit. A lot can change in a week. Ultimately I want to be on the European Tour and what we are all here for is to get onto the Challenge Tour and be one step away from the European Tour.”

Neil Fenwick (Dunbar Golf Club), James Maw (Rockliffe Hall) and Max Williams (Cuddington Golf Club) shared fourth on one under, while Nick McCarthy’s second-round 65 (-6) has been confirmed as a new course record at The Carrick.

Highlights of the Motocaddy Masters air on Sky Sports at 8pm on Tuesday, July 22 with repeats throughout the following day. The HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour stays in Scotland and moves to Royal Burgess in Edinburgh, with the three-day tournament running from Wednesday, July 23.

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Lowry Leads Irish as Rory Recovers

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Shane Lowry leads the Irish challenge at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open after a round three 68 to hold a share of seventh place ahead of the final round, and trailing the leader Justin Rose by five strokes.

Lowry reached the turn in 34 and matched repeated the same on the way home, only dropping three shots all day.

Michael Hoey added a consecutive 74 to drop down the leaderboard after a bright start on Thursday when he carded just two more strokes than McIlroy's record breaking 64.

Rory McIlroy declared himself happy with his Open preparations after rediscovering his form in the third round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

McIlroy continued a worrying trend of following a superb opening round with a terrible second one at Royal Aberdeen, shooting a course-record 64 on Thursday and a seven-over-par 78 on Friday.

The 25-year-old responded with a 68 on Saturday to lie seven shots off the lead on three under par, but was happy to take the positives ahead of next week's Open at Hoylake.

"I've shot 64 and a 68 on this golf course, which are two really good scores," said the Northern Irishman. "Yesterday was just one of those days where nothing really went right. I couldn't get any momentum.

"It would be nice to shoot another good one tomorrow, but I feel good with my game and I saw enough positives in there to give me confidence going into the Open.

"I feel much more prepared going into next week. Coming in here I was hitting these shots that I needed into the wind on the range and hitting them perfectly, but today I hit a couple that weren't so good.

"Hitting them in practice and hitting them under the gun are two completely different things and being able to do that over the past three days and tomorrow as well can only help going into next week.

"It's just about getting rid of these bad stretches of holes or these bad second rounds or whatever it is. If I can get rid of that, then there's no reason why I can't go next week and really contend."

Darren Clarke carded a seventy to lie 26th on 1 under par.

Gareth Maybin fired a third round 69 to nudge up to a share of 38th.

Padraig Harrington was 50th with Damien McGrane twenty places further adrift after a round of of 74.

Kevin Phelan's 78 on Saturday placed him 76th.

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McIlroy Hits 78 at Scottish Open

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Rory McIlroy set a new course record of 64 at Royal Aberdeen on Thursday, but as the wind changed direction so did the former world number one, who stumbled to a 78 that had him battling to make the halfway cut.

His first-round scoring average of just under 68 leads the PGA Tour but his second-round average is almost five shots worse, with rounds of 63 and 78 in the Memorial Tournament the worst example of a worrying trend and part of a run of shooting 40 or more for nine holes in four straight events in America.

McIlroy needed another 40 shots to cover the back nine in Aberdeen and had to save par from greenside bunkers on the 17th and 18th to make sure of being around for the weekend.

"It's been the case all year. I've got off to great starts and fell away but I am still in the tournament and I can go out in the morning and try to get some of those shots back," the 25-year-old said.

"You are having to talk about it (his Friday performances) so it's in your mind and I am maybe putting more pressure on myself to shoot a good score. It's another Friday out of the way, thank God, and I can go on to the weekend. I shot 68 on the Friday at the US Open so hopefully next week will be the same."

Asked if he was shell-shocked, McIlroy added: "Yeah, a little bit. I just thought everything today was much tougher. When I woke up this morning and went to the gym the wind didn't seem like it was up as much as it is now, so I wasn't expecting this tough a test.

"The wind direction yesterday was definitely easier but I'm glad that I've seen this wind direction today because I think that's what we're going to get again tomorrow. So at least I've played a round in it and I know what for expect."

McIlroy’s 78 featured six bogeys and a double, which came at the par-five 12th, and leaves him six shots behind leading trio Ricardo Gonzalez (71), Marc Warren (69) and Kristoffer Broberg (71).

It had looked like Gonzalez – who admitted to being boosted by his native Argentina reaching the World Cup final – would end the day with the outright lead, but a double at the 18th in the fading light ensured he dropped back to six-under alongside his co-leaders.

In contrast to Ryder Cup team-mate McIlroy, Justin Rose went from woeful on Wednesday to title contender on Friday, carding a 68 to finish five under par and just one off the pace.

Rose, who won at Congressional a fortnight ago, said: "I came here on Wednesday and felt absolutely horrendous. It was like I had lost my game somewhere over the Atlantic, but the last couple of days I have been finding my feet again and that's part of the reason for playing this week ahead of Hoylake.

"It was great to see the course in a completely opposite wind. The par-fives are playing very easy on the front nine and there are some tough par fours on the back nine. I did well to hang on to my score on the back nine and made a few good six or seven-footers coming in."

Six-time major winner Nick Faldo had threatened to produce something special when he birdied the fourth and fifth and holed from 40 feet for an eagle on the sixth, but the 56-year-old dropped four shots in five holes from the eighth and eventually carded a second consecutive 73 to finish four-over-par.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald carded rounds of 73 to finish one and two-under respectively, but Ian Poulter ran up a triple-bogey seven on the 18th to miss the cut along with Lee Westwood.

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Rory Strikes Record 64 in Aberdeen

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Rory McIlroy fired a course record 64 in the opening round of the Aberdeen Asset Management  to lead the  Scottish Open on Thursday,

Michael Hoey finished two strokes off the lead after a round of 66. 

Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg had established a new mark of 65 at Royal Aberdeen after going out in the first group at 6:30am, but that lasted a matter of two hours as McIlroy also made light of the windy conditions.

The former World Number One carded eight birdies and one just bogey, even driving the green on the downwind par four 13th - a distance of 436 yards.

"Everything was pretty much on," a delighted McIlroy said. "I controlled my ball flight really well which is the key to me playing well in these conditions and on these courses.

"I've been working the last ten days on keeping the ball down, hitting easy shots and taking spin off it and I went out there today and really trusted what I practiced."

McIlroy revealed he had also driven the 13th in Wednesday's pro-am, although it probably still came as a shock to the group ahead of Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Jimmy Walker, who were still on the green.

"I'm driving the ball really well and I feel if I can get driver in my hand and have an advantage on the field I should do it," he added.

"Going out this morning in these conditions I thought anything in the 60s would be a good score so to shoot something better than that is pleasing."

The scoring overall was excellent given the wind was gusting up to 20mph, with Luke Donald and Scot Marc Warren shooting rounds of 67.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson also looked set to finish four under par, only to three-putt the 18th for his only bogey of the day.

Broberg won four times on the Challenge Tour in 2012, three of the victories coming in the space of four weeks.

"I played really, really well," he said. "I hit very good shots and a lot of close ones, so this helps a bit. And I kept away from those bunkers and stayed patient.

"I woke up at 4am and saw the wind out there. There was a little less wind to start, but it got more windy after eight holes so it's the same for everybody."

Kevin Phelan and Darren Clarke signed for rounds of 69.

Garethr Maybin and Padraig Harrington carded 71's with Simon Thornton finished Thirsday on 73.

Paul McGinleyended on 74 strokes.

Peter Lawrie was +8 after nine bogeys.