Harrington faces uncertainty in bid for hat trick

July 14, 2009

Padraig Harrington believes his experience winning the British Open the last two years will give him an advantage over almost everyone at Turnberry. The hard part will be giving himself a chance.

The Irishman is trying to become only the second player in the last century to win golfs oldest championship three successive years. He has won three of the last eight majors, the highest rate since 2007 of any golfer, including Tiger Woods.

The trouble is, Harrington has obsessed so much with retooling his swing that his game is out of sorts. He has missed five straight cuts on the U.S. and European tours coming into Turnberry, although he did capture the Irish PGA last week outside Dublin.

The one thing I know is that if I get in position, I can win. Thats the nice thing, Harrington said Tuesday. Others can get there, but they wont win. So at least I can do it if I can get into position.

Can I get into position is whats in doubt.

Harrington is working with Bob Torrance on his swing and with Bob Rotella on his brain.

After a dismal spring, following by constant tinkering, he finally had what Harrington calls an intervention with his wife, caddie and Rotella, with instructions to start competing instead of spending so much time on mechanics.

But it remains a work in progress.

Harrington thought he turned the corner last week when he played two practice rounds at Turnberry, only to feel his swing had deserted him at the Irish PGA, even though he won by seven shots at The European Club against a weak field.

Golf is always - for me, anyway - a juggling act of keeping all the balls in the air and keeping everything working together, he said. And Ive always concentrated on one ball a lot and a few of the other ones have fallen on the ground, and its a question of picking them up and getting them all together again.

He believes hell be a better player when he sorts through the latest round of swing changes.

Even so, Harrington knows this will be a tough week. He was overlooked at Royal Birkdale last year when he showed up with a wrist injury. He caught many by surprise when he won the PGA Championship last year at Oakland Hills, becoming the first European to win successive majors in the same season.

Going for three in a row at the Masters, he was overshadowed by the return to majors by Woods.

But now?

Obviously, Im going for three in a row, so the spotlight is on me, Harrington said. Its not made it harder, but its certainly made it more high profile. Its probably a little harder to do when its as high profile. Its not as easy to do your own thing and just work away at it. But going forward, Im going to be a better player and thats all that counts to me.