Thursday, July 24, 2008 Chiongbian: Harrington did his homework By Edgar R. Chiongbian Teetime
BRITISH Open champion Padraig Harrington, the first Irishman to win the Open in 60 years—but that was last year. Now, the Irish can boast of having won the British Open twice in two years. Harrington did his math on the fairways, greens and winds, and figured out how to defend his Open title at the Royal Birkdale in Lanchester, UK.
Harrington took no prisoners, playing two solid days of excellent golf in the sixth mini-corner (translation: 18 holes divided into 6 groups of 3 holes for betting purposes) of the third and final rounds. With no Tiger on the hunt and no cope-ability from world no.2 Phil Mickelson, Padraig went on cruise control to the Claret Jug, far and away from the rest of the field.
Greg Norman, whom I call Greg “Normal,” had a good shot of winning it in the back nine of the final day but I believe he decided to play carefully because most of his shots to the green were short and many putts came short when he needed to sink it. Well, that’s Greg Normal, no history lesson here! Of course it’s easy for me to say and that’s why I’m seating in front of the typewriter, not on the PGA Tour.
Anyway, I was right in saying that the records of the British Open were in favor of the Americans but the Europeans would win it. I never expected Harrington to win again, after all he hasn’t been winning in the PGA and European Tours and now he has one major every year; no big pressure to win again till next year, just use the budget from the prize money.
BALLS. When I was very young and just started playing golf, they had big and small golf balls. I liked the big golf ball because they were very white and look good on the ground. The small ball was almost brown because they were made of balata and looked hard to hit. However, golfers from Bacolod preferred the small balls because it was less affected by the wind.
The smaller golf balls were designed from England, of course because of the winds. Without knowing it, the small balls really had a great advantage from the R&D that we know today. So the British had a head start on the technology. In the 80s, the small golf balls became very popular in the Philippines since the small ball incorporated the US technology and was performing more superior than any ball.
My experience with the British ball was, it went farther, straighter and it was good with the wind. But its biggest advantage must be the smaller ball made the hole or cup bigger, in proportion to the bigger ball and had a better margin for error. The USGA has banned them with specifications on the size of golf balls. But look carefully, there are still slightly smaller golf balls around and some are branded.
VISIT. We’re back from our visit to our sister clubs in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau, Malaysia and our Rotary Club of Cebu members that went were pres. Ted Gonzales Jr., Baba Panopio, Renato Kintanar, Jonathan Gesalem and wife Rissa, and myself. The five-star hotel we stayed in KK had a 27-hole championship golf course fronting the hotel.
From our room we could see the golf course and its beautiful layout and condition. The best part was being able to shower naked in front of the fairways from our bathroom that had full-length windows. Hmm, Fore!
GOLF TIP. The pitch and run can give you varying results if you don’t do it correctly. Many times you want to hit a low shot so the ball will run but instead it bites and stops dead when it lands. This may sound like a touch and go situation but it really is in your control.
To make the ball run, concentrate more on having a shorter backswing allowing the ball to release when it lands, rather than
concentrating on a low shot, which gives you the tendency to do a punch shot and create back spin.
Keep your hands less active and more relaxed on your shot to allow a smoother swing and a better control on the length of your backswing. Don’t power your hands through the ball and just rely on the club to do its thing.
The momentum of your swing will also determine length of the follow through. Since you’re hitting it easier, use one more club to get the distance you need for the shot.
