PGABrian KeoghIrish PGA, Marian Riordan, The European ClubComment

A woman of some importance - Marian Riordan

PGABrian KeoghIrish PGA, Marian Riordan, The European ClubComment

Marian Riordan hopes that beauty can conquer the beast when she becomes the first woman to tee it up in the Ladbrokes.com Irish PGA at The European Club today.

Pat Ruddy’s magnificent Brittas Bay links has brought some of Ireland’s best to their knees over the years, no more so that last season's Irish championship, when the cut fell at a whopping 19 over par

Marian mashes one on the first at The European Club.But Ladies European Tour pro Riordan, 28, is hoping that she can use brain power to her advantage when she goes toe to toe with the likes of triple major winner Padraig Harrington and the cream of Ireland’s club professionals in the country's oldest professional championship.

A modest 250-yard hitter (with run), Tipperary native Riordan earned her place in the field when she shot a six over par 77 on the Wicklow wonderland eight weeks ago to share fourth place in an 18-hole qualifier.

And she’s banking on her mental strength and patience to make up for her lack of muscle off the tee in an event that Harrington will be bidding to win for the sixth time since 1998 and the fourth in five years.

She explained: “I don’t try and compare myself with the guys. They are blasting it 300 yards with ease and I probably carry it 230 yards and it goes 250. But I work with (PGA pro) Gillian Burrell on keeping calm on the golf course and that’s where I think I will have a little bit of an advantage over some of the younger guys this week because this course will push you to the limit.

“If you don’t know how to handle that - if you hit a bad shot and come away with a double or a triple - you are in trouble unless you can dig deep inside. Once it starts going badly here, it can go really badly.”

The European Club measures 7,355 yards off the championship tees but the Irish Region of the PGA will reduce that to around 7,089 yards for its members this week and put no more than 12 of the back tees in operation.

Under PGA rules, a woman professional plays a course up to 10 percent shorter than the men, which means that Riordan will be asked to negotiate a track of about 6,400 yards.

She said: “I get about 40 yards on the seventh, thank goodness, but after that it is around 10 or 15 yards on most holes. I am hitting at the front of the tee and they are at the back.

“I watched Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam play men’s events but you just can’t compete with the men off the same pegs. They just launch it. They hit it 300 yards easy. That’s massive and they don’t even have to go into first gear."

Launching the ball aimlessly is suicidal at The European Club where deep rough and visually intimidating, sleeper-faced bunkers are major hazards.

“You can’t miss the fairways here because if you do you are looking for your ball, you are hoping to find it and if you do find it, you are just hoping to dig it out," Marian said. "It is a penalty straight off. I am hoping the wind blows a little bit and the guys have to hit their drivers.”

With a conditional Ladies European Tour card, Riordan missed the cut by two shots on her tour debut in the AIB Ladies Irish Open at Portmarnock Links two weeks ago but hopes to do better this week.

While sponsors Ladbrokes have rated her a 500-1 rank outsider to win the tournament, the Greystones PGA trainee is just 9-1 to make the cut and has decided to back herself.

She said: “I’ve put a few bob on myself but I just take it one shot at a time. I am 500-1 with Ladbrokes to win the event and everyone else it 200-1. So I am not thinking about winning.

“But I am not thinking about making the cut either. If you do, you might just make it or you might miss by a shot or by loads. I am just thinking: hit fairways, hit greens in regulation and minimise the putts. Then come in and see how I have done.

“It’s great to make a little bit of history. All the members in Greystones know about it and a few people will travel up from Tipperary. There has been more hype about this event than there was for the Ladies Irish Open.”

Riordan will tee it up with Callan’s Michael O'Shea and Brian Kerley in the first two rounds but wouldn’t mind a crack at reigning Open and US PGA champ Harrington.

Asked how it feels to tee it up in the same field as a three-time major winner, she joked: “I doubt he is that nervous. I am sure he is not too intimidated."

Majors, PGA Irish RegionBrian KeoghCarnoustie, Irish PGA, Padraig Harrington, Pat Ruddy, The European ClubComment

Harrington wants links warm-up for Carnoustie

Padraig Harrington wants to warm up for next year’s Open by chasing his fourth Irish PGA title on a links course.

After missing the cut at Hoylake this year, the Dubliner vowed never to go to the Open again without playing competitive golf the week before.

He said: “When you are going to Carnoustie, you are going there with a big battle on your hands and I want to prepare properly for it.

“If the Irish PGA is played the week before, I will certainly be playing if it’s on a links course.

Majors, PGA Irish RegionBrian KeoghCarnoustie, Irish PGA, Padraig Harrington, Pat Ruddy, The European ClubComment
PGABrian KeoghIrish Independent, Irish PGA, Padraig Harrington, Pat Ruddy, The European ClubComment

European Club comes of age

The European Club will come of age today when world number 10 Padraig Harrington leads a 120-strong field in search of the Irish Professional Championship.

But while course creator Pat Ruddy regards the arrival of the Irish PGA as the completion of a “full house” that comprises the amateur men’s and ladies’ Close Championships, the deck has been stripped somewhat.

PGABrian KeoghIrish Independent, Irish PGA, Padraig Harrington, Pat Ruddy, The European ClubComment
PGABrian KeoghIrish PGA, Leslie Walker, Simon Thornton, The OpenComment

More questions than answers for Harrington

Padraig Harrington might go to Turnberry with his sixth Irish PGA title in the bag but his confidence and trust in his swing has gone AWOL with time running out before he bids of a hat-trick of Open wins.

Will there be a silver lining to Harrington's cloudThe Dubliner couldn’t make a birdie in a two over par 73 at the European Club yesterday but still found himself four strokes clear of Huddersfield-born Simon Thornton on two under par going into the final round. 

Harrington's chief rival Leslie Walker inflammed an old wrist injury on the third hole when he was just three behind and was forced to withdraw eight holes from home on a day when  veteran Denis O'Sullivan's level par 71 was the best score of the day.

A four shot lead would normally be enough for the world number 12 to take on world number 846 Thornton with little to worry about. But Harrington is so low on confidence that he is not so sure if it will be enough.

"If I was on form, four shots could be a comfortable lead but it doesn’t feel comfortable to me now," Harrington said of his Saturday morning (9.38am) showdown with Thornton. "Certainly not on a golf course as demanding as this one. I’ve proved it myself in the past, it’s easy to run up a score on any hole out there."

Harrington revealed that he hasn’t been this badly prepared for a major since he missed the cut in the Open at Hoylake in 2006 and admitted that he urgently needs to sit down with his mental coach Dr Bob Rotella to find a way of regaining some trust in what he’s doing.

He said: “It does worry me. It makes for a much more stressful three or four days going into the Open. If you have done your preparation right, you are just winding down. But I don’t have that luxury.

"I’ve probably hit the ball the poorest I’ve hit it all year in terms of the shots I am capable of hitting. I’ve probably set myself back in terms of how I’d prepare myself for a Major by about three years – in that I would have gone into the Majors three or four years ago like this, just not knowing what’s going to turn up.”

PGABrian KeoghIrish PGA, Leslie Walker, Simon Thornton, The OpenComment
PGA, PGA Irish RegionBrian KeoghIrish PGA, Michael McCumiskey, Padraig Harrington, The European ClubComment

Irish PGA heads for The Island - now for the treasure

So it’s goodbye to The European Club and hello to The Island.

Padraig Harrington, Michael McCumiskey and John Kelly in 2008Just don’t hold your breath waiting for the PGA Irish Region to put out a press release on Padraig Harrington’s bid for a seventh Irish Professional Championship title in the Donabate area next July.

So far, just two things are crystal clear. 

One - Pat Ruddy’s European Club won’t be playing host for a fourth year in a row.

And two - Padraig Harrington said in Shanghai on Sunday that he’s definitely playing the Irish PGA from July 8-11 - the week before the Open at St Andrews.

PGA, PGA Irish RegionBrian KeoghIrish PGA, Michael McCumiskey, Padraig Harrington, The European ClubComment