Harrington Defends Crown

Filed in archive Golf News on July 20, 2008

Courtesy: sports illustrated

5 bogeys was the net difference between Greg Norman and Padraig Harrington in the final round of The Open on Sunday.

That's where Norman lost the tournament. But it was Harrington's steady play that forged him the defense of his Open crown. That and 3 straight birdies on the back nine followed by an eagle on 17.

No round worse than 74 and a 69 on Sunday was tough to beat in Royal Birkdale's brutal conditions.



I don't know what you could ultimately glean by studying the scorecards of both players (I focus on just these two because they were in the final pairing, after all) but here are a few thoughts.

First, whenever Harrington erred on a hole, it was, for the most part, early in the tournament and he rectified his mistake in the rounds that followed. Norman did not manage that to the same extent. In fact, I would argue that if you study his scorecard, you'll see that he never managed to get the better of a hole that had bettered him.

Holes 1, 3, 6 10 and 13 are examples.

When Harrington messed up, he made amends. Holes 1, 4, 6, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18, holes where Harrington had made bogey or worse in rounds one, two or three, became pars or better on Sunday when it counted.

Could this all mean that Norman's Sunday collapses during majors are still part of his golf makeup?

Frankly, who cares? The man played an awesome tournament in conditions that Harrington himself called the toughest golf ever played and, at the age of 53, stood on the first tee leading The Open on Sunday. That's a super-human effort right there.

It was a terrific run for The Shark and a wonderful repeat for Harrington and the weather was the chief factor in ensuring that The Open was what a major should be: tough, wearying, grinding golf sprinkled with moments of sheer brilliance.

On the practice tee, Harrington warms up with a golf glove tucked in each armpit to help him stay connected on his backswing (Vijay Singh often does something similar).

Here's Harrington's swing in sequence, courtesy of Golf.com.