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Padraig Harrington joined an elite group becoming one of only a handful of golfers to win The Open twice in successive years.  Only 4 days earlier he was an injury doubt and the speculation was high that he wouldn’t even compete.  However, compete he did and eventually ran out a winner by 4 strokes on a day when the other big names other than Ian Poulter failed to make any impression.

For a high handicap golfer like myself it was good to see the professionals suffer in the teeth of 40-50mph gusts and struggle to hit fairway after fairway.  Add to that, the pressure of the final day of a major tournament and it became a fight not only of the conditions but also a mental struggle.

I fear for the likes of Sergio Garcia, who looked frail.  Going into the final day, any player 8 shots and under off the lead was in contention, and as David Howell proved posting 3 under par was possible with a little application and resolve.  However, Garcia for one looked mentally beaten after he missed a putt on the first hole.  His shoulders sagged and he shook his head, and then predictably went on to post 7 over par.  After last years close encounter he was a hot favourite this year, but on yesterdays performance I have doubts that he will ever get that close again.

Other performances worth a mention for different reasons were Ian Poulter, Greg Norman and Amateur Chris Wood.  Poulter put on a spurt in the back nine and but for a couple of missed putts and an inspired couple of holes from Harrington could have forced a play off at least.

Norman at 53 (as the commentators couldn’t mention enough) was leading going into the last day, but his decision making let him down on the final day and he dropped away.  However, he will have had every reason to be pleased with his performance, where he made a lot of younger players look poor.

And then Wood - winner of the Silver Medal as top amateur, pushed all the way and only fell at the last couple of holes when he missed a couple of crucial fairways and found a bad lie in a bunker.  However, no doubt he will turn pro soon and hopefully move from strength to strength.

Most interesting was the interview with Jack Nicklaus, who talked at length about the modern game and the financial rewards that players receive these days.  He said it wasn’t a case of “too much too soon” but maybe a case of “too much”.  A lot of players these days can make a good living and never win a tournament and “fly under the radar”.  His belief is that they lack the drive to win, being happy to take the cash.  Therefore when the going gets tough they simply withdraw - apparently there are 15-20 withdrawals from tournaments these days, which is an unheard of figure.

Compare this to Tiger Woods playing and winning the US Open with a bad knee and Harrington, who fought to recover from injury this week to go on and win.  Perhaps that’s the difference between the average pros and the Champions that really want to win - not for financial reasons, but because they just want and “need” to win.