Thursday, August 11, 2016

Harrington proud to be Olympian: "Nobody can take that away from us"

He might be seven shots off the clubhouse lead but Pádraig Harrington feels like a winner already after becoming an Olympian in Rio.

"I would say I was more nervous on the first tee than I would have been when I played my first major," the 44-year old said after an opening, one under 70.  

Pádraig Harrington

Pádraig Harrington

"It was very exciting.  I said it to the guys walking off, now we are Olympians and nobody can take that away from us.  When you think about it, most weeks, you have 156 guys playing, 155 losers. This week, you have 60 guys playing, and we are all winners."

The Dubliner had an average day on the greens, mixing four birdies with three bogeys in a round that left him seven shots behind early pace-setter Marcus Fraser of Australia, who shot an eight under 63 to lead by three from Canada’s Graham DeLaet.

"I was very nervous, just like the first time you tee off St. Andrews, the first time you tee off Augusta,” Harrington said. "Thankfully they give you a big, wide target off the first.  This golf course is really nice that way.  If you want to play safe to some big targets and if you want to go for it, it challenges you to take it on. 

"It was very exciting.  There was certainly some trepidation over the last couple of days.  I picked up a little bit of a neck injury and I just was a little bit concerned that, well, I think I would have teed it up anyway.  

"But you're worried, you want to be healthy and strong, because there is a feeling  and I never get this feeling, ever, in any event; there's a feeling that this might be my one and only opportunity. 

"I tee it up in majors, four majors every year, and if I was injured or didn't play well, I'd just go, well, there's always another major coming up.  There's always a major in a few weeks or a major next year, 16, every four years.  

"But this event, there's a genuine feeling of, this may be my only chance.  Who knows in four years’ time where I’ll stand in the world of golf and I realise how quick it changes. 

"So yeah, there was a feeling of trepidation, a feeling of joy after hitting the first shot.  I'm an Olympic athlete now forever.  I said it to the guys  and you know, what's different about this event, every week we play, 156 guys tee it up.  There's 155 losers.  This week, 60 guys tee it up, 60 winners.  We're all winners.  Every guy is feeling good teeing it up here, thinking, life is good, I’m an Olympic athlete. 

"It's just so unusual for us.  No matter what happens this week, it would be nice to win the Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal, but everybody is walking away with something, which is a lot different to our regular weeks in golf.”

West Waterford's Seamus Power, the other Irishman in action in Rio, was among the later starters.

Scores



from News - Irish Golf Desk http://ift.tt/2aOwBbs
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