Golf Talk

A selection of quotes from today’s press conference at Carnoustie, site of the 2007 British Open.

Padraig Harrington talks about losing, then winning the Open and what it means for euro players,

Q. You’ve waited so long, we’ve waited so long for a European winner. What impact do you think this will have on the guys around you, the Paul Caseys, Luke Donalds and Paul McGinleys?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I hope it has a very positive impact. Miguel Angel Jiménez came to me on the first hole of the playoff and said, we’ve got a European winner. I do believe very much in that side of things, that hopefully it will inspire the other players. But then again, Michael is part of our Tour, and we consider Michael one of us. Yeah, okay, I hope it does push out to the other guys, I know I’ve got my trophy. And as I said, my goal has always been, if I’m asked about this in the past, I’m saying, look, I’m trying to win more than one major. I think that’s a huge point that I need to be — I need to try to focus on winning. My goal was always to win more than one major. If I ever crossed that threshold to win one, I wouldn’t feel like that was the end of my road. It was always very important for me to have — now that I’ve won one, I’ll try to win another, rather than feeling that this was the pinnacle. I’m going to celebrate like it’s the pinnacle, but my attitude is, look, I’ve got other goals now to move on with. I’m certainly going to enjoy this one as it is, for the foreseeable future. Forever, actually.

Q. How weird was it that your adventure on 18 in regulation sort of unfolded right in front of Sergio, who had a perfect view of it, and what were your emotions as that all unfolded?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I never — when I hit it in the water, that was the first time I asked today — I knew how the tournament was going, but it was the first time I asked — when I was going up 17 I asked how I was standing and we were tied. As I was going down 18, I was one ahead. When I hit it in the water I said, well, 5 is going to put up at least I’m going to be well in there. The problem is you’re coming from that side of the fairway, I’ve got 229 yards, I’m trying to aim left of the pin and cut it back to the pin with out-of-bounds left. It’s a tough shot. I didn’t execute well. I hit it fat. I was trying to play to the front left of the green so that I’d have a good chance of — I knew that was the most sensible play, make my 5 ask put some pressure on Sergio. When I hit it in the water I was disappointed. But once I walked up there, I said, look, I’ve got to get this up-and-down. I kind of had a feeling, even though things hadn’t gone for me, I had a feeling that, hey, I could chip this in. If I’m going to win an Open, my break is going to happen at some stage. I hit a lovely pitch. Holing the putt that was probably the most pressure-filled putt I had of the day. If I missed it, it was the end of it, and to hole was it was a great boost to me. That was a moment that I thought, now maybe things are going to go my way.

Q. Just to follow up on that, you still make a 6 at the last. I’m just wondering what your emotions were as you sat there watching Sergio.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I never left myself feel like I’d lost The Open Championship as I sat watching. The one thing, I never, ever had it in my head that I’d lost.
Now, if Sergio parred the last and I did lose, I think I would have struggled to come back out and be a competitive golfer. It meant that much to me. But I never let it sink into me that I had just thrown away The Open Championship on the 18th. I sat there in that hut and I was as disciplined as I could be with my focus not to brood or not to, you know, ifs and whats or buts or if I had done that. I never let it cross my mind that I’d just thrown away The Open. Obviously if I had just thrown away The Open, if it turned out like that, it would have been incredibly hard to take. It come so close and not to win would have been — take a 6 down the last, playing the hole, obviously very poorly, it would have really felt — it would have hit me very hard. And I think I would have struggled in the future.
But, as I said, I didn’t let that cross my mind. I wouldn’t let it enter my mind. I knew that it’s a tough, tough hole. If Sergio doesn’t make par, which essentially it’s the toughest hole in golf, toughest finishing hole in golf, no question about that. To try to win a tournament on that hole, there’s just trouble everywhere you look at it. I knew Sergio — it was going to be a tough hole for him to make par. He did hit a lovely putt. I’m sure he’s going to look back on that and — I thought he holed it. But as I said in my head going out into that playoff holes, there was a little bit of, I’ve got a second chance. But I didn’t have a down after the round, which I think was very important. I kept myself very level all the way through.

Sergio Garcia on coming up short and bad breaks,

Q. Does the pain of losing, particularly the way you did, hurt more than the satisfaction of playing well? One could argue that you were the best player throughout the course of the week, and a centimeter here or there with the putts and you’ve got the Jug. I was wondering about the mix of emotions you’re going through right now?

SERGIO GARCIA: I’m fine. I’m disappointed. But the week is over. Padraig played well today and well enough to win. So just have to get better, I guess. There’s nothing else I can really think about at the moment.

Q. I’m just wondering, when you’ve missed putts by a fraction over and over and then a shot hits a flagstick and bounces 15 feet away.

SERGIO GARCIA: It’s funny. It’s funny how some guys hit the pin or hit the pin and go to a foot. Mine hits the pin and goes 20 feet away.

Q. It’s just not meant to be?

SERGIO GARCIA: It’s — you know what’s the saddest thing about it? It’s not the first time. It’s not the first time, unfortunately. So, I don’t know, I’m playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field.

Q. How tough is it carrying the lead into the last round of a major and particularly since you led all three days? Is will a pressure there?

SERGIO GARCIA: Definitely, definitely. I was definitely a little bit nervous at the beginning and it’s understandable. If you’re trying to win an Open Championship and you’re leading and you’re not nervous, then you must be dead. But I don’t know how I managed to do these things. It seems to me like every time I get in this kind of position I have no room for error. I need to miss one shot and I really get many good breaks. The birdie I made on 3 I made out of a divot on the fairway. And then missed a couple of putts and hit a couple of not very good shots, but actually not that bad either. That’s it.

Andres Romero on his amazing round,

Q. Why didn’t you lay up, play it safe at 17?

ANDRES ROMERO: The lie of the ball wasn’t bad enough for me to take that decision. I thought I had a chance to get it on the green. I was thinking of hitting a 3-wood — I should have hit the 3-wood, stuck with my initial thought. I didn’t; that was the result.

Q. Do you wish now you played it safe?

ANDRES ROMERO: I never considered playing safe.

Q. You seem to be very smiley and quite happy. I was maybe expecting you to be more upset with what had happened.

ANDRES ROMERO: I am happy. When the best players in the world are here and I played the tournament I played, I played with the No. 2 in the world, I felt very comfortable playing with him and I felt I belonged there.

Q. So no disappointment at all?

ANDRES ROMERO: No disappointment at all.

British Open, Carnoustie, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Andres Romero

Quotes from ASAP Sports