Purity over star power - Harrington and Lowry reflect on unforgettable Walker Cup spectacle
Dean Robertson lifts the Walker Cup at Lahinch. Picture: The R&A
Doonbeg will showcase a constellation of stars during this week's Amgen Irish Open, but it will be almost impossible to replicate the purity of last weekend's incredible Walker Cup spectacle at Lahinch.
Even with 20 current or former Ryder Cup players, including eight Major champions, in the 138-strong field assembled just 30 minutes up the road, the excitement of Great Britain and Ireland's incredible comeback victory was the talk of the range at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel.
If last year's disgraceful Ryder Cup scenes left a foul aftertaste, the home side's Lazarus-like resurrection at Lahinch was the perfect palate-cleanser for fans keen to see that golf still has a soul.
Tourism Ireland will make mileage out of the presence of Masters champion McIlroy alongside Jon Rahm et al at President Donald Trump's Co Clare resort this week, but the daily 10 hours of coverage that US golf fans enjoyed from Lahinch was worth every penny they might have spent last week.
Pádraig Harrington hugely enjoyed the Sunday singles on site at Lahinch alongside Jody Fanagan, his foursomes partner at Royal Porthcawl in 1995, and Noel Fox, who was a Walker Cup winner with Colm Moriarty at Ganton in 2003.
"It was more being a fan than anything else," Harrington said in Doonbeg as he broke from practice to shelter from a heavy shower. "It took me several holes to be able to see the ball from the side of the fairway.
"It was hard to catch the flight before I eventually got to grips with it. From being a Ryder captain when I was actually standing beside the shots a lot, to being halfway up the hole or at the green, it was a different experience.
"It's interesting watching because I was like a genuine spectator, and at times you don't know how good or bad a shot is.
"When you're watching, somebody might have missed left. But maybe that was because they couldn't miss right.
"I'm trying to figure out: was that from 150 yards, or was that from 200 yards? So it's odd. I learned a lot about spectating. It's never great to be on a downslope, for instance."
The crowd was officially 8,000, but one suspects that more than a thousand or two might have wandered in late on Sunday.
For Harrington, the crowd was so replete with old friends that it was like being transported back more than 30 years to his amateur days.
"I think it was huge for Irish golf," he said. "It was huge for tourism. It was very big for Lahinch. Great for the Walker Cup.
"Lahinch now gets included with some of the great golf courses of the world. Obviously, GB&I winning was important for the Walker Cup. And it was good for golf.
"There was no negativity at all. Even when it got tight, the American guys were getting clapped, and it was nice that GB&I holed the winning putt to complete a very improbable comeback. It was as good a day's sport watching as could be.
"It's the kind of tournament you should go to because it's easy to watch, the venues are great, and clearly the R&A and the USGA have figured out that if they can get to great venues, it makes a big difference."
Harrington posed for his fair share of selfies, but Shane Lowry watched the action on TV and couldn't look away.
Padraig Harrington watches the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch.
"At no stage with an hour to go did it look like they were going to win," said the Offaly man, who was a certainty for the 2009 Walker Cup at Merion Golf Club until he won the Irish Open at Baltray and turned professional eight days later.
"It was a great watch. Very, very cool. Amazing to watch."
Of course, the performance of fellow Offaly man Stuart Grehan, who beat world number one Preston Stout twice in the singles, made it even more special.
"Stu did very well to beat your man twice, and it was good for the Walker Cup that they won as well. And Bandon Dunes next year is a bit linksy as well, so you never know."
As for this week's Irish Open, which appears likely to move to late June next year to avoid proximity to the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, it will be interesting to see how the championship evolves.
The change in the PGA TOUR model means that a handful of events that offered Masters exemptions to the winners will either disappear or lose Championship Series status, raising the possibility that the Irish Open could conceivably join the Scottish, Spanish, Japanese, Hong Kong, Australian or South African Opens in awarding the winner an Augusta National start.
Harrington is not so sure that Ireland fits the bill, given the field.
"I would have thought that when they went down this road that the Irish Open is a bigger and better tournament than some of the other ones and that people playing in the Irish Open have other opportunities to qualify for the Masters.
"I think they went to the likes of the Spanish Open because more people were playing that event who weren't in the Masters and didn't have an opportunity to qualify.
"We weren't getting that many LIV guys as we are this year, but it was more a case of everybody playing this event having other opportunities."
