Harrington’s stroke of genius
There were to be no ladybirds crawling out of the Claret Jug this time for Padraig Harrington, the Open champion at Carnoustie in 2007, after rounds of 76 and 74 dashed any hopes of making the cut. But the Irishman, whose young son Paddy stuffed the trophy with his favourite aphids here 11 years ago, ensured that he departed with a memorable flourish.
Hogan’s Alley, they call the par-five sixth, after Ben Hogan used every inch of the in-bounds area to reach the green in two en route to victory in 1953. One was reminded of this yesterday as Harrington contrived an inspired recovery, leaning into an out-of-bounds post to hit his second shot and somehow engineering a birdie. “It was a bit of a shock to find that it finished where it did,” he said. “I thought I had hit a beautiful drive. But then it kicked left, up against the fence.”
Harrington, who beat Sergio Garcia in a play-off here to win the first of his two Open titles, acknowledged that the difficulty of the Carnoustie test had ground him down eventually. “It got the better of me in the end,” he said.