I hit my third shot into the water and was DEVASTATED .. but I still

Sunday Mirror, Jul 13, 2008 by GRAHAM OTWAY

PADRAIG Harrington can expect, as defending champion, a hero's reception when he walks on to the first tee at Royal Birkdale.

But after his Jean van de Velde moments in dumping two balls in the water on the 18th hole at Carnoustie last year, he has revealed he may not have even travelled to the Lancashire coast this week.

Had he not quickly recovered his composure to beat Sergio Garcia in the play-off that followed, the Irishman says he could have abandoned his ambition to be a Major winner and settled for a comfortable life as a run-of-themill European Tour pro.

Harrington recalled: "I was spiralling into the biggest hole in the world when I hit my third shot in the water. I felt like I had let everybody down. I felt like I was going to be judged to high heaven at that stage. I was embarrassed and I felt like I choked - I felt devastated.

"Fortunately, my caddie did a great job in pulling me back out. He gave me a veritable barrage going down that fairway, and the great thing is that he thought I had just lost The Open, too, but he never let on."

In those fleeting moments of deep despair, Harrington admits he did contemplate what life could have been like had he not turned disaster into triumph.

He admitted: "There is the possibility I would have steered myself away from ever being in that situation again. You wouldn't want to go through that sort of pain again - because there would be a lot of it. If I had not gone on and got another chance and won, I'd have looked back and said, 'Do I want to put my neck on the line?

Do I really want to be out there and be judged?' "I could have become the guy who is happy to play average, shoot a good score on Sunday and finish top 10. Everybody pats them on the back, they take home a big cheque and they have a great life.

"But that's not me. I'd still rather be the guy who is leading going into Sunday and messes up. The guy who messes up learns for himself, and the next time he will win."

Having won his first Major, Harrington travels to Birkdale with the burning hunger to add a second to his CV.

He said: "The desire to win a second Major is more now, no question. After I won last year I was thinking, 'Oh, I want to play a Major every week, because they are so exciting'. But if I was going to win another Major, I would pick one of the other three."