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You are > Home > The curse of ‘Harry’ falls on Rory
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The curse of ‘Harry’ falls on Rory
BY ANTHONY HENNIGAN
HE’S one of our greatest ever sportsmen, but what the heck has happened Padraig Harrington?
Asked how he would approach Friday’s second round at The Open Championship after his opening round 73, Padraig responded: “I actually don’t need to play any differently than today.”
And yes Paddy, you didn’t need to play any differently if the extent of your expectation was to fail to make the cut. 10 shots behind the first round leader Rory McIlroy and the worst positioned of the seven Irish competitors, Padraig added: “I was more than happy with how I played.”
Regardless of whether or not he really believed that, we weren’t happy with how Padraig played. That’s because we so wish him to repeat his past heroics every time he hits the course. That’s the pressure attached to being a three times Major winner.
If it wasn’t that we know it’s his supreme composure that allowed him scale the highest heights, we’d love if Padraig expressed his anger every once in a while (don’t you just sense there’s a right good outburst bubbling under his surface?), rather than remain his same positive self at all times.
And for that matter, just how does he manage to stay so upbeat when everything seems to be going so wrong? Not needing to play “any differently”, when day 2’s play was done ‘Harry’ was a whopping 18 shots off the lead on +6 having signed off on a round four shots worse than his opener.
But it wasn’t just his own game that Padraig Harrington appeared to jinx with his opening day comments.
Speaking about McIlroy’s sensational 63 – the joint lowest Major round ever – Harrington remarked: “The likelihood is that he will go out and play steady golf over the next 36 holes. He’s almost guaranteed to be in contention on Sunday.”
Cue disaster. Rory’s +7 80 in Round 2 followed on the back of all nine of the young Ulsterman’s previous rounds at St Andrew’s finishing level or below par. After leading the field by two strokes at the end of day 1, McIlroy ended day 2 a massive 10 shots behind the leader. By Saturday he was 11 shots adrift. His Open chances lied in tatters.
How was that for a kiss of death from Positive Padraig!
Super soft or just super sensible?
FOR those of you who were out and about last Thursday, or who were supposed to be out and about but thought better of it, you’ll remember just how monsoon-like the evening was.
I couldn’t help but notice though, that whilst U-14 Gaelic footballers and lower division soccer teams braved the torrents and flooded plains of Mayo, the only games abandoned that evening involved all four of the Super League teams supposed to be in action. Aye, while the youngsters paddled their way through championship fare up and down the county, it seems the weather was too severe to allow the boys of Ballyheane and Ballina Town fulfil their Westaro Cup clash or for Westport United to try and beat Manulla and go top of the Elverys Sports Super League.
And if anyone blames the pitches at Pat Quigley Park (Ballyheane) at The Sportspark (Westport), is that to say those pitches are less equipped to deal with weather as severe as last Thursday than the pitches of Parkside Celtic, Glenhest Rovers, Crossmolina, Claremorris and Ballyglass, all of which hosted and completed games on the same evening? That really would be an awful indictment of the Mayo Super League, especially with all the investment that has taken place over the past decade.
Much more likely however, is that teams of lesser league standing are treated less seriously, and that their players are considered not as worthy of the protection or deserving of the playing conditions of their Super League counterparts – hence why all their games reached full-time whilst the matches in Ballyheane and Westport were abandoned mid-game. What else could one surmise?
Of course, we could laud the soccer match officials as being more responsible in refusing to allow their games take place on the same night that U-14 Gaelic footballers took to what resembled paddy fields, or we could suggest the GAA lads, even as tender teens, are more hardy than their more senior soccer skins. Don’t mention the war!
Cliff fall for Sligo
FOR those of you not in Castlebar last Sunday or who didn’t think of parting with €4 for the team-sheets, the match programme carried an advert seeking people to vote the Cliffs of Moher as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The cause of the advertiser seemed more for the money than the glory, telling us that if successful 35% more overseas tourists would be attracted to Ireland generating €1.7billion in revenue.
As magnificent though as the Cliffs are, their wonder pales into in insignificance given how Sligo managed to beat Mayo and Galway in the same championship season yet still failed to win the Nestor Cup.
Apart from when playing Exile opposition, never before had the Yeats County gone into a championship game as strongly fancied by bookmakers to win.
Hindsight is a great thing, but quite how odds of 1-4 for victory could be bestowed upon three times champions Sligo considering they faced off against 19 times winners Roscommon, is beyond me.
Thankfully, Mayo lived up to their favourites billing when winning a third consecutive Connacht minor title. Beating Galway 3-9 to 1-10, you might be interested to know that the last two times Mayo scored three goals or more in the provincial final (3-3 to 1-6 v Galway in 1999 and 4-9 to 0-6 v Leitrim in 1991), they went on to contest but lose that year’s All-Ireland Final.
Third time lucky perhaps?
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