Being The Open Champ?
It’s as easy as A, B, Sea!
Padraig Harrington is taking to ‘Major’ winner life like a duck to water
Last July, he delivered the moment that European golf had been waiting for since 1999 - and now, nearly 12 months on, Padraig Harrington is still savouring every minute of being a ‘Major’ winner. As he got ready to step up his preparations for defending the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale this summer, the Irishman took time out to have a few words with bunkered and revealed that life has never been better . . .
Padraig Harrington, the 2007 Open champion. Have you got tired of hearing
that over the past few months?
No and I don’t think I ever will. It’s been great and so, too, have things like seeing my name alongside all the other Open champions in places like the Old Course Hotel at St Andrews. I was walking though there during the Alfred Dunhill Links last year when someone pointed it out and it was a really nice thing to see.
How long did it take to sink in that you had become the first European since Paul Lawrie in 1999 to win a ‘Major’?
To be perfectly honest, I still don’t think it
has fully sunk in and it could be a long time before it actually does. If I can go on and win more ‘Majors’ then I will look back on Carnoustie last year as having been the start of big things happening in my career. If not, then it is going to be the pinnacle.
It was a thrilling finish at Carnoustie. Some even felt it was one of the most exciting Opens in history. What’s your take on that?
I’ve still never had a chance to watch all of the coverage – all I’ve seen are the highlights of my shots. However, an awful lot of people, many of them non-golfers, came up to me afterwards and said it was definitely the most exciting golf event they had ever seen. It seems that golf was definitely the winner that day and if I played a part in encouraging people to take up golf on the back of what happened at Carnoustie in 2007, that would be absolutely fantastic. I’d be really proud if that was the case.
Apart from obviously being a useful home
for the ladybirds, what else is the Claret Jug good for?
When I’m at home, it sits on the breakfast table and it is right there in front of us all the time. It’s the first thing I see in the morning and, to
be honest, it seems like it’s right at home.
Have you ever sat down with Sergio Garcia and discussed the events of that final afternoon at Carnoustie?
No and I don’t think I ever will because I’m not the person to be offering Sergio consoling words for what happened that day. Things like that can only come from family or someone else who...
