Harrington aims to stay on strait and narrow in Senior Open defence
Pádraig Harrington. Credit: Getty Images
Pádraig Harrington has made not losing a golf ball at Gleneagles' King's Course one of his big goals as he bids to become the first player since Christy O'Connor Jnr to retain the ISPS HANDA Senior Open title.
The reigning US Senior Open champion (54) arrived in Scotland on the back of missed cuts at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open.
But he feels back to himself this week, where he's joined by Darren Clarke, the 2022 champion at Gleneagles, and Paul McGinley.
"It's in great condition," said Harrington, who was runner-up to Clarke four years ago. "It's pretty tight in places; I'll be happy if I finish the week without losing a golf ball. If I can manage that, I'll probably be pretty competitive.
"It's reasonably wide fairways in places, a few narrow ones, but if you miss in places sometimes six or seven yards you're in three-foot high ferns.
"You want to hit the ball straight this week, and if you do, I don't know if the wind and rain are going to come in, but it's been a very pleasant golf course if you hit the fairways."
O'Connor Jnr retained the title at Royal County Down in 2000, and Harrington is upbeat about his chances, despite two poor weeks.
:I feel good about my game," he said. "I had a bit of a blowout the last couple of weeks on the main tour; I don't know if it's trying too hard or I just fell out of form, but I feel good now.
"I've worked through a few things, and I'm looking forward to being out there and being a little bit more in my own comfort zone.
"I'm excited. There's a little bit of trepidation and stress when you're defending. I can't wait for it to start tomorrow and get going."
On the PGA Tour, Seamus Power plays the 3M Open in Minnesota looking to build on a solid performance in last week's Corales Puntacana Championship.
A tie for 11th matched his best performance of the season at Torrey Pines in February, and at 115th in the FedExCup standings, he'll be looking to move up at TPC Twin Cities.
The field includes eight of the top 50 in the world, headed by world number one Scottie Scheffler, who plays for the first time because taking three weeks off before the FedEx Cup Playoffs didn't suit his schedule.
While he's ended the Major season without adding to his tally, he was in no mood to rank them in terms of frustration,
"All four of them," said the Texan, who was second in the Masters, 14th at the PGA and tied fourth in the US Open and The Open. "I don't really have an answer for that. I think any time you don't get to where you want to be in golf, which is pretty often, I think there's always a good amount of frustration with that.
"One of the things I like in this game, one of the things that I've always kind of prided myself on is the consistency," he added. "That's something that shows that I'm playing some pretty good golf.
"It just hasn't been quite good enough to win some tournaments. Like I said, I still feel like my game's in a good spot and I've played some nice golf. I haven't played any great golf yet, but I've played some nice golf over the course of the season.
"I think if you took a blind look at some of my results, I think a lot of people would say that's a really good season.
"Like I said, I wouldn't know how to describe it.
On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire and Lauren Walsh will be looking to hone their links games for next week's AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes when they join Anna Foster in the $2 million ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.
Lottie Woad defends the title at a venue where Maguire was joint 16th last year as Walsh missed the cut,
"The ground is really firm," said world number one Nelly Korda, who was fifth behind Woad last year. "So it takes a little bit of a toll on your body with the vibrations and the firmness, but also a great prep week for what you think is going to be a firm and fast golf course (next week)."
On the HotelPlanner Tour, there are eight Irishmen in action in the Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge at Kaskáda Golf Resort in the Czech Republic.
It's the 15th event of the 28-event schedule and the start of the race to finish in the top 45 in the Road to Mallorca rankings who will qualify for October's Rolex Grand Final and the battle for status on the DP World Tour for the top 20 points winners.
Liam Nolan (27th in the Road to Mallorca rankings), Gary Hurley (46th), Max Kennedy (48th), Mark Power (88th), Conor Purcell (132nd), James Sugrue (202nd), John Murphy (219th) and Robert Brazill tee it up in Brno.
