‘I'll be more nervous than Rory McIlroy on first tee' – Pádraig Harrington's dawn dilemma

Irish Independent

17-07-2025

The R&A hopes to have more clarity on the viability of Portmarnock as an Open venue by the end of this year, and Harrington would be the obvious choice to get the action underway there.
But after watching Tom Watson come close to winning The Open at the age of 59 at Turnberry in 2009, 53-year-old Harrington still believes he can win a third Claret Jug.
His first concern is to get the ball safely away on one of the most treacherous opening holes in Major golf with out-of-bounds on both sides of the fairway and behind the green.
'Look, my goal is to hit the first shot and the last shot this week,' Harrington said. 'So that's in my head, that's what I'm trying to do. That's what I'm thinking. I'm sure the bookmakers will tell you that's not a reality. But I have to prepare.
'If I get there on Sunday and get myself in contention, I have to prepare to be ready for that moment and see how that goes.'
Still competitive, Harrington does not want to start thinking of himself as a ceremonial player. But he considers it an honour to follow in the footsteps of Darren Clarke, who blasted a driver down the middle and made birdie when he got the action underway at Royal Portrush in 2019.
'Obviously, it is a ceremonial thing, but it is a great honour,' Harrington said. 'I have [hesitated when asked] in the past, put it like that. But this time I didn't hesitate. I decided this was a good time to do it at Royal Portrush. And it doesn't preclude me from doing it again.'
He equates his nerves with those he felt in the 1991 Walker Cup at Portmarnock, when he partnered Paul McGinley in foursomes.
'Yes, very nervous,' he said. 'It's not a comfortable tee shot for anybody. I accepted it before I actually thought about the tee shot.'
Could anything compare? 'The Walker Cup in 1991. Couldn't see the ball,' he said. 'You've got the inlet to the sea on the right and the clubhouse on the left and you're hitting off an upslope into the wind.
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'That was absolute nerves, and I would have followed that up with my first shot of the Ryder Cup [in 1999], but that was a seven iron off the fairway.'
Clarke has not been shy with advice, but it hasn't helped Harrington.
'Yeah, bloody Darren,' Harrington joked. 'We talked about it and he says, 'I was going to hit the little three-iron down there and I was so nervous', so he took out the driver and bunted it down there because it had a bigger head.
'And I'm saying, 'Darren, this isn't helping me!'. Geez, I don't know what conditions are going to be, but I really don't fancy hitting a driver off the first tee, hopefully it would be the three iron.'
He rates Royal Portrush as his favourite Irish links because its risk-reward nature makes it a great mental test.
'You know, there's out of bounds on what, four of the first five holes that comes into play,' he said. 'You could say twice on the first, so five times you've got [OB] stakes in the first five holes that do come into play.
'I think that the great thing about Portrush, maybe this is why I like it so much, because of the risk-reward.
'If you hit good shots, you can make birdies. There's a huge mental task out there because you could stand on the likes of the second tomorrow and think, yeah, this is a good birdie opportunity, hit in the bunker, end up making bogey. And it's the frustration that the player has to deal with.
'That's probably what leans me towards this course, that I've always liked courses that are mental battles.'
It was suggested that Rory McIlroy just had to get his first tee shot away to banish the memories of 2019, when he made an eight at the first.
'It's only about me getting my first tee shot away!' Harrington joked. 'You know, he's going to play 72 holes. I don't know, I wonder who'd be more nervous on the first tee. I think I would be!
'I haven't really thought about it, to be honest. You're reminding me that he'd hit it out of bounds, I'd forgotten about that ... kind of.'