Harrington Impressive at Open

Asterisks won’t be applied to Harrington

Even though Tiger Woods was not in the field at the British Open last week, Padraig Harrington proved that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the elite golfers of the world. Despite having a nagging wrist injury that nearly forced him to withdraw from the field, Harrington put together four stellar rounds to win by four shots over Ian Poulter. His win at Royal Birkdale not only netted him $1.49 million but it also vaulted him to number three in the latest World Golf Rankings, behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
During the entire week, Harrington appeared cool and confident as though he expected to win the Open Championship all along. He also showed no signs of pain from his wrist and obviously didn’t play like it was hurting him. Perhaps his wrist being hurt brought down his expectations down which allowed him to relax during the week and focus on playing his game. For most people, when expectations are raised, it causes a spike in their stress level. In golf, stress is the worst thing that can happen to a player, especially when it comes down to touch shots around the green. As the article says, Harrington won the British Open because of the way he dominated the course, not because Tiger Woods was not in the field.