'It was very special and I got a little emotional when I was clapped on' — Harrington first among equals
Padraig Harrington of Ireland acknowledges the crowd on the first tee ahead of Day One of The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 17, 2025 in Portrush, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
Pádraig Harrington had a tear in his eye as he was greeted by rapturous applause and rated the experience of hitting the opening tee shot at Royal Portrush as one of the highlights of his 28-year career in The Open.
The Dubliner (53) was third to arrive on the tee at 6:31 am and, after doffing his cap, tying his laces, and teeing up his ball three minutes early, he gave his three iron three rapid swishes and blasted it down the middle before hitting another bullet three iron from 216 yards to 15 feet.
The first tee grandstand was packed and the fairway lined on both sides as the Dubliner set the ball rolling alongside Nicolai Hojgaard and local hero Tom McKibbin and made the perfect start to proceedings by brushing in his birdie putt to take the lead.
“I hyped up the tee shot as much as I could, so that when I got there today, it didn't feel so bad,” Harrington said of his 6:35 am tee time.
“So I was decently comfortable when I got in the tee.
“Obviously, I didn't try for too much. Hit a nice three iron down there, held the finish, posed a bit. I got a little emotional when I was clapped on. Then I calmed down and was kind of fine when I was hitting.”
Harrington three-putted the third, fourth and eighth to slip to two over, then took six at the 10th after losing a ball from the tee.
He birdied the par-five 12th but holed nothing on the greens and signed for a four-over 75 as Hojgaard carded a 69 to sit just two shots behind early leader Jacob Skov Olesen and McKibbin signed for a 72.
“Yeah, it was a tough day on the greens, and it just ate into my game,” he said.
“Might have been a little bit of the fact that I was hyped up for the first tee box. Who knows?”
Whatever about the score, Harrington found the whole first tee experience a memorable one.
“I came off the range about 20 minutes before my tee time, and I could see the grandstand, and it was empty,” he said.
“I was like, I thought this was going to be full.
“Obviously, we have to walk up and over, and as I came up and over, I could see people queuing for a long line to get into it. They hadn't let anybody in.
“By the time we got there, the grandstand was full, the first fairway was full, the first green was full.
“Hitting that second three-iron into 15 or 18 feet, holing the putt was a serious buzz.
"It was very exciting, and those crowds were spectacular at that hour of the morning. It was really great.”
Harrington teared up when giving his acceptance speech after winning the first of his two Open titles at Carnoustie in 2007 but while he confessed to occasionally fighting back tears watching movies on airplanes, he couldn’t recall welling up on the course.
“I wouldn't say I get too emotional, not like that, no,” he confessed. “It felt like they were there for me, giving me a clap.
"I expected the nerves; I didn't expect that. So I did have to adjust myself for that.”
Was it special?
“Yeah, it was very special, I've got to say,” he said. “It's a great honour to do it, as I said. I really hate the idea of being ceremonial, but I was prepared to do it because it was here. I'm glad I did.”
He rated the experience as one of his great Open memories,
“Absolutely,” he said. “You certainly wouldn't start your career off expecting anything like that. It's not something you think, oh, this is something I'd like to do in my career.
Tom Mckibbin of Northern Ireland shakes hands with Official Starter, David Lancaster, on the first tee during Day One of The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 17, 2025 in Portrush, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
“It was out of the blue when I was asked this year, but it's not out of the blue if you were thinking about it. I'm glad I did it now, put it like this. Maybe I might get to do it again.”
As for McKibbin, the Holywood star (22) bogeyed the first and third and made an eight-footer for par at the fourth to avoid going three-over before finding his feet.
He hit a bunker shot close to birdie on the fifth, drained an 18-footer for eagle at the seventh and birdied the ninth to share the early lead with Hojgaard.
He even had a putt for the outright lead at the 10th, but he missed it and then ran up a double-bogey six at the 11th after moving his ball just a few feet in the right rough.
“A little bit of everything in there, a little bit of a good, a little bit of bad,” said McKibbin, who got a shot back with a two-putt birdie at the 12th but bogeyed the last for his 72.
“Overall, one over. Not great, but not bad. Not too annoyed but not happy. It was overall a very sort of up-and-down day.”
“Obviously, I was two-over after three. I don't really feel like I hit too bad of a shot to sort of be in that position.
“I just missed the fairway on one and didn't have a good lie at all. I hit a good shot into three and came up a little bit short. Then I hit it down the middle of the fairway on four and it was in a divot. It was just not going my way.
“Hit a good bunker shot on five and made a birdie there so one over after five wasn’t too bad.
"Then I started to play quite nicely after that. I only sort of struggled on the holes with the wind off the left. Besides that, it was okay.”
