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The 2008 Open

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16 years ago

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Padraig Harrington successfully defended his Open title with a four shot victory at Royal Birkdale, beating Ian Poulter into second place.

Four days of truly attritional golf where rain and wind had torn through the field, experience held through as the Irishman held his nerve to take his second major. Harrington started the final day alongside KJ Choi 2 shots back from Greg Norman. The Australian had rolled back the years displaying the full range of shot control despite difficult conditions.

For people used to playing and seeing golf on immaculate parkland courses in balmy sun and no wind the conditions at the 137th Open would have given them the shock of their lives. With no trees lining the course, there was no respite from the winds that howled in from the sea. Not only was the wind regularly blowing at 20 mph but gusted as high as 50 mph making distance control more of an art than a science. Heavy rain over the first 2 days complicated affairs even further.

The final round started finely balanced with 3 shots separating 4 players: Norman, Harrington, Choi and Englishman Simon Wakefield. Prior to the final round, Norman had been in 4 greenside bunkers and got up and down each time. He found one on the first and blasted out to 18 feet. The par put missed and the lead was back to 1. A missed 6 footer on the second from Norman and it was all square with Harrington who looked as steady as a rock paring the first 6 holes. Bogeys at the first for Choi were followed by bogeys from the 4th to the 8th as he fell away from contention. Norman briefly regained the lead around the turn but some bad luck with the putter and a terrible lie in a fairway bunker on the 13th and a miss-club put paid to his efforts despite fighting hard for the rest of the round. It was an amazing effort from one of the giants of the game who showed that age is no bar from competing at the highest level.

It was Ian Poulter who then charged into contention. Confidence is something that Poulter has never been accused of lacking and in these difficult conditions when others seemed to be seemed to be retreating, he was playing easily the best golf on the course as he shot a 69 to post the clubhouse lead of +7.

Harrington was in sole ownership of the lead at this point but with the conditions being what they were, the possibility of one bad card-wrecking hole was always present. Harrington then proceeded to play the golf of the championship, birdying 13 and 15 and then playing the shot of the championship on the par 5 17th with a 250 yard 5 wood to 4 feet to set up an eagle which he converted. A par at the last and Harrington was the Champion Golfer again. An amazing achievement when you consider that he considered not defending his title due to a damaged wrist which saw him play only 9 holes of practise on the Tuesday, withdraw from practice on the Wednesday and which had severely restricted his practise regime prior to the event.

Twenty year old Chris Wood won the Silver Medal for best Amateur finishing tied 5th. Birkdale has a habit of revealing great talent from the amateur ranks – Seve Ballesteros the most notable and Justin Rose the most recent – so great things should be expected from the young Englishman.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. tadieb69

    Jul 21, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    Questions like yours were already asked in the past by golf journalists so “golf analysts” can have long, boring and pointless discussions.
    There is no solution to weather problem. It’s part of life and part of golf game.
    Unless you have an answer to all this I think we should drop it right now.
    BTW sprinters and other athletes have preliminary rounds which are happening in different weather conditions that affects the ones who rely on “best time” qualifying.
    Cheers

    Reply Report comment

  2. bobsuruncle

    Jul 21, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    Kudos to Paddy for a great win.

    This championship aside, I’d like to start a debate about the fairness of Open Championships in general.

    The weather plays such an important role in determining the winner.

    Let’s say Golfer A wins by 1 shot from Golfer B. But on one of the 4 days, Golfer B played during one of the worst storms (which accounted for say a 2-3 shot swing between the average of a morning round vs an afternoon round).

    While we acknowledge that luck does play a part in golf e.g. a hole in one, lucky bounce away from OB, hitting a flagstick with an approach which goes into the hole vs deflecting 30 feet away. But should the luck of the draw of your tee time on Day 1 or 2 determine the winner of a major championship?

    As an analogy. Let’s assume we are running the Olympic 100m sprint finals. But rather than all runners facing the same wind conditions, let’s assume wind conditions vary by individual lanes. Let’s say lane 2 has a tail wind of 2 mph, while lane 4 has a head wind of 2 mph. The runner in lane 2 wins from lane 4 by 0.1 seconds. The difference between the tail and head wind accounts for 0.2 seconds. My question is – who really won the race?

    What are your thoughts?

    Reply Report comment

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2024 John Deere Classic

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1 day ago

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Jul 2, 2024

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GolfWRX is on site this week at the 2024 John Deere Classic. With the Scottish Open next week and The Open Championship two weeks away, those who have qualified will be looking to shore up their games in Silvis, Illinois, before heading to European shores.

On the equipment front, we spotted some new SuperStroke x Marvel grips and got an in-hand look at impressive custom Scotty Cameron putters. Our WITB galleries already feature a look at Jason Day’s wares, and general complement the spread.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more photos from TPC Deere Run!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about the photos and join the discussion in the forums.

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Protected: Highlights from the Wilson Golf Product Testing and Fitting Experience at Pinehurst

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Tour Rundown: #QueenMel and a “Bland” U.S. Senior Open

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Jul 1, 2024

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A wee bit to the north and east of my hometown is a jaunty little ‘burg called Medina, NY. No one would ever consider it to be a golf mecca, but for this week at least, it is. Why? The 2024 Amateur Champion of the world, Melanie Green, hails from Medina. With a sense of regional pride, I salute #QueenMel, who emerged from 36-hole, medal qualifying and six head-to-head matches, to win 2-up in the 36-hole final at Portmarnock. Miss Mel won the last three holes, two with birdies, to join great USA winners like Babe Zaharias, Louise Suggs, and Kelli Kuehne.

Now, let’s run down all the world’s tours this week. We followed a national championship (Men’s US Senior Open) from storied Newport Country Club, the PGA Tour at Detroit, the DP World in Italy, the LPGA doing the tandem thing around Michigan, and the Korn Ferry down Illinois way. We’re spoiled during these summer months, full stop. Might as well enjoy these riches.

PGA Tour @ Rocket Mortgage

The results that came out of Detroit Golf Club on Sunday caused a few heads to be scratched. Nowhere to be found were the mid-60s numbers that traced across the leaderboards like sunflowers in Carmona. Missing, too, as the sun waned in the sky, were the expected, clutch performances of golfers chasing victory.

We’ve grown accustomed to birdies down the stretch, and numbers like Bhatia’s 72nd-hole bogey, and Young’s closing five-five-five, seemed strange and unfamiliar. Bhatia’s take that he knows how to close tournaments, and that it simply didn’t happen on this day, was equal parts explanation and compensation. Teachers teach well, writers write well, and golfers put the ball in the hole. That’s the measure of victory.

The lifting of the tournament trophy was left to Cam Davis, who did what the others could not. He concluded play with 70 for -18 on the week, hoping for a second RMC in four years. On his heels, all tied for second at -17, were Davis Thompson, Min Woo Lee, Aaron Rai, and Bhatia. Beyond Akshay, none has tasted tournament success on the US PGA Tour. Davis posted birdie at 17, then waited. Thompson made a late rush, with birdies at three of his final five holes. He needed one more. Lee took five shots at the final hole; he needed one fewer. As for the two-gloved Rai, his even-par 72 on the day left him a shot away from playoff.

USGA @ Senior Men’s Open

Any hope that Hiroyuki Fujita held for finishing off the US Senior Open at Newport, went distantly away, courtesy of two unregistered opponents: fog and rain. The golfer that had played so brilliantly over 3.5 days (16-under through 63 holes) was forced to consider the ramifications of his situation. The golfer whose five cuts made in regular-tour majors included zero, top-forty finishes, stood three shots clear of the field, with no tourist guide to bring him home. Sunday’s dawn proved that he was mortal, and the game was afoot.

No worse pursuer than Richard Bland might have appeared. The Englishman had won his last USA start, and it was also a senior major championship. Bland captured the Senior PGA Championship in late May, winning by three shots over Australia’s Richard Green. The SPGA runner-up was also among the chasers at Newport, but a top-five finish would once again be his destiny. As for Bland, he did what experienced winners do. Consecutive birdies at 14 and 15 on Monday served notice that there would be no easy stroll home for Fujita. The Japan Tour stalwart stumbled over the same stretch of holes, posting bogey on three of his first four holes on day five.

Precisely when it appeared that Bland would conclude matters in regulation, he posted bogey at the 18th and dropped back to 13-under par. Fujita found the same number, and the duo went off to the first, two-hole playoff in US Senior Open history, and the first overtime session since 2014 in Oklahoma. After two pars each in the regulation session, they went to single-hole elimination. Each made bogey at the 18th, but the fourth hole gave resolution. Bland was able to earn a sandy from the greenside bunker, while Fujita was unable to secure par. Congratulations to Richard Bland on a second senior major in 2024.

LPGA @ Dow Championship

Both Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand) and Yin Ruoning (China) will represent their nations in the 2024 Paris Olympic games. Olympic competition is individual-only for golf, which is a missed opportunity. Teaming to win medals for your country is the epitome of Olympic success. It’s a bit odd, then that the two would find success in a team-style, warm-up event on the LPGA circuit.

For most of the week, two golfers from the USA appeared destined for victory at Midland Country Club. Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho finished 36 holes in 128 strokes. They gave one back on Saturday, with 67, but came home on Sunday with a third 64 for the week. Despite an early passel of birdies, they were unable to save a single shot over the closing stretch. They finished at 21-deep for the week.

Paired with them, Thitikul and Ruoning were also finding par after par as they headed for home. At the watery 18th, Thitikul stuffed her tee ball inside fifteen feet, then read the surface flawlessly, and hit her mark. The putt broke slightly right, into the center of the cup. With that closing birdie, a playoff was avoided and a send-off celebration of Olympic calibre was in the works.

DP World Tour @ Italian Open

16 months had passed since Marcel Siem last savored a DP World Tour win. His triumph at the Indian Open, in February of 2023, might have been a bit distant to leave residue of confidence. As he traversed the final arc of the Cervia golf course, his gaskets had unsealed and oil leaked everywhere. An outward 32 was undone by four bogeys from holes 11 to 17. The last one had dropped him from the lead, and only a majestic finish could return a chance at salvation. After he drove the fairway and reached the green at the closing trace, Siem assessed a 22-feet putt for birdie and found cup bottom.

In that moment, the round of 65 that England’s Tom McKibbin had fashioned, was no longer enough. He would need to do a bit more work, to secure a second Tour title. The duo returned to the final tee deck, and Siem once again faced a birdie putt. His approach was played brilliantly to about ten feet, but the putt drifted right. By the grace of gravity, it caught enough of the circle to fall downward, and a sixth career title belonged to the German champion.

Korn Ferry Tour @ MHC by LRS

Max McGreevy has tasted the bitterness of defeat and savored delicious victory on the professional golf tours. He has lost a playoff on the PGA Tour, and now won twice on the Korn Ferry orbit. This week, McGreevey overcame a wee miss on the penultimate hole, to secure victory at green 72, with a xxx birdie putt. He and runner-up Steven Fisk each clinched a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season, based on 2024 peformance.

McGreevy eased a 36-yard pitch within two feet of the hole, at the par-five 16th, on Sunday. He converted the birdie putt and moved a shot lower than Fisk, with two holes to face. At 17, he played safely away from the tucked flag at the watery par three, and eased his 55-feet putt to precisely the same distance (26 inches.) And then, he missed. Gone was the lead, and present were the doubts.

As champions do, McGreevy refocussed and found his spot on the 18th fairway. His approach from 186 yards settled a dozen feet from the flagstick, and his read on the downhill slider was accurate. The putt dropped, and McGreevy avoided overtime.

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