{"id":821736,"date":"2026-07-23T22:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/821736\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:16:09","slug":"hard-work-ahead-for-padraig-harrington-as-he-tries-to-hold-on-to-his-seniors-open-title-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/821736\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard work ahead for P\u00e1draig Harrington as he tries to hold on to his seniors open title \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

If he is to retain his title at the ISPS Handa Seniors Open at Gleneagles, then P\u00e1draig Harrington<\/a> \u2013 who did successfully defend his US Seniors Open title earlier this month \u2013 will have to do it the hard way, after the 54-year-old Dubliner shot a level-par 70 to trail first-round leader Cameron Percy of Australia by seven strokes.<\/p>\n

Harrington was motoring nicely in turning one-under, only to hit a television camera with his approach into the 10th \u2013 \u201cit ricocheted into some rubbish,\u201d he said \u2013 in running up a bogey six and then bogeyed the 12th before getting back to level with a closing birdie.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obviously not my best day but, you know, it\u2019s that sort of golf course out there. You can feel a bit cautious and intimidated. There\u2019s lots of trouble. Look, I\u2019m a long way back at the moment, but there are 54 holes (left), so, If I free up a little bit, maybe I\u2019ll catch up,\u201d said Harrington, who is playing for a seventh straight week in moving between the Champions Tour and the main circuits.<\/p>\n

Of looking for a clearer mindset for the rest of the championship, Harrington claimed: \u201cIf I do free up and not worry about it, I\u2019d be a lot better off but that\u2019s always the battle when you\u2019re playing golf. If you have a clear mind, you\u2019d be the best player in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul McGinley<\/a>, making a rare appearance on the seniors circuit away from his television punditry, recovered from a bogey-double bogey speed bump by responding with three birdies in four holes on his back nine in signing for a two-under-par 68 while Darren Clarke opened with a 71.<\/p>\n

Percy, yet to win on the seniors circuit, opened with a brilliant 63 which consisted of eight birdies and a bogey. \u201cI drove it really good but you have to here. I didn\u2019t hit in the rough once.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the ISPS Handa Women\u2019s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, where South Korea\u2019s Jenny Shin claimed the first-round lead with a six-under 66, Leona Maguire<\/a> \u2013 who had missed the cut in three of her last four tournaments \u2013 carded a solid level-par 72 to be inside the top 20. Nelly Korda<\/a>, the world number one, also opened with a 72.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If he is to retain his title at the ISPS Handa Seniors Open at Gleneagles, then P\u00e1draig Harrington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,128794,95806,1978,138569,82],"class_list":["post-821736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-leona-maguire","tag-nelly-korda","tag-padraig-harrington","tag-paul-mcginley","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}