Harrington sets his sights on a place in Open record books
PADRAIG HARRINGTON will be looking to join one of the most exclusive golf clubs in history when he defends his Open Championship title at Turnberry on Thursday.
After victories at Carnoustie in 2007 and Royal Birkdale 12 months ago, the Irishman is looking to become only the fifth player since records begun in 1860 to claim the Claret Jug for a third successive year.
Australian Peter Thomson was the last player to achieve the feat in 1956, but Harrington knows he will need to overturn the formbook in order to rewrite the history books.
The 37-year-old has missed the cut in each of his last five tournaments, but says his game is suited the unpredictable conditions of a Major event.
“I do like some of the conditions during the week at a major tournament to be quite difficult because it does limit the amount of people who can cope with that. That is one of my strengths,” said Harrington, who tees off for the first two rounds alongside former US Open champions Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy at 2.20pm. “It brings more people into the contest if you get four nice, sunny days but if you throw in at least one windy day and a demanding course it certainly brings down maybe to only 50 per cent of the field that would compete in that.”
Lee Westwood has been paired with world No1 Tiger Woods and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa or the first two rounds at Turnberry, starting at 9.09am.