Five-times Open Champion Peter Thomson was the last professional to win three consecutive Open Championships (1954-56), a feat Padraig Harrington is attempting to emulate this year. Here, The Melbourne Tiger, who celebrates his 80th birthday in August, describes the Turnberry course and Harrington and Woods’ chances of claiming the Claret Jug.
I played at Turnberry in the British Matchplay Championships, I think in 1957, so I was very familiar with the place having had a lot of serious rounds there in the Championship. As a matter of fact, I lost to Christy O’Connor on the final hole in our match, in the semi-final, so I was very familiar with the course and rather liked it, actually.
The course was resurrected after the war, when it had served as an airfield, and was put together again in a nice way – I think it is impossible to criticise. It is a top class course, one of the category A courses, I’d say. But it needs wind, like all the seaside courses do – wind and a bit of dryness to make the lies tighter on the fairway. Then it is as good as anything in Britain.
I was fortunate enough to win three consecutive Opens, 1954-1956, and Padraig Harrington has the opportunity to achieve this later this month. I think his chances must be good. If he’s good enough to win two, he’s good enough to win three. But the extraneous issues, such as how well other people play, come into the picture. He’s quite capable of winning three in a row, but whether the other players allow him to do that is in the lap of the gods, I would say. There is no doubt there is pressure on him to perform, and that can have its toll on a fellow’s performance. He can’t really free-wheel it and let it happen – he has got to make it happen and I think that is a big burden to carry.
Saying that, I didn’t really feel under pressure at St Andrews in 1956 – I was actually very pessimistic, I wasn’t playing well and I had a driver I didn’t like. I wasn’t putting that well, so I thought, well, I would be very lucky to get into the top half a dozen in this event. But as time went by I found that everyone else was having similar troubles. In the end I was the one that was high and dry, just a stroke ahead. You know, to win you have got to be very grateful to the people who lose, that’s been my philosophy all my life.
I won’t be at the Open Championship this year – the first time in a long time – and I am missing it already, truthfully. But an 80th Birthday is something special. I would prefer a 70th Birthday, but I have had that already and my family is assembling, so it will be an emotional time for us.
Get TPL RSS Updates