Heading into The Open this week, Padraig Harrington is playing some of the best golf we have seen him produce in quite some time. His form on both the Senior and PGA Tour has been excellent, with only a poor final round in difficult conditions robbing him of a another top 20 finish at the Scottish Open last weekend.
At 51-years old, he still has plenty to offer. His form has even put him into the frame an unlikely Ryder Cup berth later this year, something the Irishman has not shied away from.
For now, he will be concentrating on performing to the best of his abilities at Royal Liverpool over the coming days. Harrington has said in recent times that he still feels he is capable of winning a major title, with The Open usually the tournament most likely to produce a winner of that ilk.
However, he has already shown us that playing well on this particular course will be no easy task.
Padraig Harrington on difficult bunkers at The Open
The playing conditions at The Open this week will certainly be testing. The weather is set to be fairly poor, with a mix of wind and rain increasing the difficulty of the task ahead.
As well as that, the course organisers have also set it up in order to ensure that wayward shots will be punished.
Padraig Harrington has provided us with an example of that.
A clip was shared on Twitter of his attempts to play out of one of the deep Royal Liverpool bunkers during his practice round. It was clear just how difficult that can be if the ball is near the deep face of the sand trap.
Not only that, but Harrington would go on to explain how such shots have been made even harder by the 'flattened out' nature of the sand.
Interesting bunkers this week. They’ve flattened out the bottom of then so the ball will not roll back from the face. So a double whammy of being stuck close to the face without the benefit of a slight upslope which you would normally expect. Definitely to be avoided as you… https://t.co/8uJ7JPXXWb
— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) July 19, 2023
Interesting bunkers this week.
They’ve flattened out the bottom of then so the ball will not roll back from the face. So a double whammy of being stuck close to the face without the benefit of a slight upslope which you would normally expect.
Definitely to be avoided as you won’t get lucky all week and draw nice lies.
By removing the slope in the sand that we would usually see in bunkers, there is even less room for error for golfers at The Open this week.
You can be certain they will be doing everything they can to avoid finding themselves in situations such as the one above.
SEE ALSO: Jon Rahm Had Surprising Opinion On Payoff For Players That Turned Down LIV Golf
