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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2015

Padraig Harrington

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

Q. You got off to a fine start, three birdies of the first five. A couple of bad swings, did you try to be overly aggressive?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No, you know, 6 is that sort of hole. I was trying to drive it down to the front of the green. Things were going well, why not take it on at that stage. Obviously it was disappointing to lose a ball. If you found it there, you made 5. It wasn't the end of the world. Obviously three-putting then, 8, and I really struggled with the putter after that. I three-putt 14 from the edge of the green. I hit a beautiful drive at 15 in a bunker. I played quite nicely tee to green. I just struggled a bit around the greens. But sometimes that happens. Obviously it was an inconsequential finish, but it's still disappointing to do that at the end.

Q. Were you pleased with your putting early in the week? Any finger on why you didn't do as well today?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It just happens.

Q. It's very soon after the round. Being in contention at a major (inaudible) just outside the top 20, what do you feel about it?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, look, obviously better off being in contention and finishing 20th than shooting 66 on a Sunday to finish 20th. Under nice conditions that wouldn't bother me at all. But it's disappointing, as I said, the last couple of holes even. I played really nicely through 14, 15 to make two bogeys, and then 17 is obviously a tough hole and 18, so I dropped a few shots coming home that I possibly shouldn't have, which is disappointing for my own play, but I was never winning once I was through 10 holes, I suppose, when it's all the downwind holes. It's hard to make something up on the back nine. It's a pity, that, but I hit lots of nice shots. Other times you get the breaks and you'll be right there.

Q. 15-under is going to be at least the winning total. Would you have loved to see 67 or better (inaudible) momentum could have build towards that and had a chance?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, I had a reasonable 25-footer to go 4-under after five holes, and 6, you could hit it nearly to the front of the green on 6, so it was potential, and 7 I hit a nice pitch in, 8, I hit a nice shot but spun it a little bit too much and then three-putted, and 9, hit a lovely shot down the pin, 10, I hit a lovely drive. Obviously pitched in an upslope and came up short. Hit a lovely pitch, as well. 11 I birdied. 12, I had a reasonable chance. 13, I hit two fantastic shots in there to 20 feet. 14, I hit three great shots and three-putted. 15, I hit a super drive. I don't know how it moved five yards right to left in what we thought was a left-to-right wind. All the way home, 16, hit two lovely shots, 17, I was trying to get out of Mark's way on 17, that was a little bit of a -- yeah, I didn't really get focused in on what I was doing off the tee there. As I said, I hit the ball lovely all day, so I'm happy about that, and putting-wise, need to think a little bit about that going forward. You do have your good and bad days.

Q. When you say it was inconsequential at the end, when did you feel like this is over for me?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I was always trying, but probably 17 and 18, you know, I went to the toilet at 17 and I came back and there was a green flag, and Mark had just bogeyed the one before, and I felt really bad. I didn't want to delay him at that stage. He wanted to hit his tee shot and I was first up, and yeah, probably tried to get out of the way there at that stage. That was probably the only stage -- at that stage it was really trying to get to the clubhouse. I wasn't obviously having any chance of winning. 14 and 15 was disappointing considering how well I played them, but at that stage, 17 and 18 was probably just a little mental errors.

Q. Do you now believe now that there are more majors in you after this week?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I felt like I hit the ball every bit as well as I needed to hit the ball to win this week. I clearly didn't -- I didn't putt well enough today. You know, we'll have to think about that a little bit and figure it out. Probably wasn't -- probably wasn't quite committed on my putts, even though I read the greens fantastic this week. You know, that's the nature of the game. As I said, some days you're rolling them in and you get very comfortable and they all go in. Today wasn't one of those days. I hit a lot of putts early on that just didn't come out on the right line, and after that I was struggling a little.

Q. Talk about Marc Leishman's performance, and also Paul Dunne. What advice might you give him?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: You know, he can be a pro all his life. The Walker Cup only comes around not very often. I think golf in the Walker Cup and turn pro then.

Q. And Mark played nicely?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Mark played lovely, yeah. Yeah, I think, again, I hope I didn't put him off with my pitch at 18, but if he's in a three-man playoff, the best opportunity to win it would have been to take that one on 18. You know, again, these things happen sometimes. It would have been nice if I'd hit a nice pitch in there and he got a good sizer on it. It might have helped him.

Q. Did you enjoy being thrust in a major final-day battle for the first time in three years?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I did. I felt very good mentally. Not great on the greens at times, but very good mentally up to a certain point. Then the greens kind of got a bit to me. I hit lovely shots really all the way home. Only really that tee shot on 17 wasn't great, but everything was pretty strong.

Q. (Inaudible.)
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: You know, I hit a lot of putts earlier on that just didn't come out on the line I wanted them to come out on. Even earlier I would say. I know just -- yeah, just wasn't pureeing the putts today. I found the greens slow, so every time I was over it, I was trying to think about pace, which maybe was getting to me a little bit.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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