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THE EUROPEAN OPEN


July 6, 2008


Padraig Harrington


ASH, KENT, ENGLAND

Q. Thoughts on the day?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I didn't make a good start and I didn't make very many birdies, so it was always going to be a tough day.

Q. How do you reflect on this week as your final European Tour event preparation for The Open?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, you know, in terms of The Open, yeah, I'm happy. I was nowhere near as sharp as I can be this week, and you know, that's a good pointer for the next two weeks. It's exactly how I would expect it to be.

Q. And when you're playing the Irish PGA Championship next week, is that just on target to be the perfect preparation as it was last year?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I can see my game this week where some parts of it were very solid. I can see that, you know, it needs another 72 holes of golf in order to sharpen it up.

Q. Is that just all you need now, sharpening?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, there's nothing that the right attitude and sort of focus -- nothing else is missing in my game bar those two.

Q. Is this any possibility of playing --
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I could do with playing in some bad weather like that. What's missing at the moment in my game is a bit of short game and when you play in the worst weather, you have to use your head more and use your short game.
I was going around there thinking, I could do with four days of this next week. You know, just it keeps you sharp when it's really difficult like that, and you have to think well and get the ball up-and-down a lot, and you've got to apply yourself well. And that's the sort of stuff that wouldn't do me any harm.

Q. Difficult to spark yourself when your partner is struggling?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, neither of us got off to a good start, and you know, the two things you want when you're going out on a tough day is you want to get off to a good start so you feel like you have something in the bag and you obviously want to make some birdies during play, to counter act a few of the bogeys.
Between the two of us, I think Colin made two birdies and I made one. There's still opportunities to make the birdies. But you know, in terms of this tournament, it's always a little bit disappointing. But in terms of my preparation and as I said, I was quite happy to be pushed around a bit by the weather and you know, make me use my short game a bit more and get up-and-down and things like that.
That's good preparation for me.

Q. Given the conditions, 18-under par, how special is that?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: You know, we were sort of nominating 16, but I wouldn't worry about the total. He's five ahead of the field or something like that, and that's always a good sign. Obviously he's very, very good player and he's obviously having a good week. It a good combination to have, put those together and you're always going to run away from the field.
Yeah, it's impressive to go out, and the last thing you want to do if you've got a lead is go out on a nasty day like today and he's handle that had very well.

Q. The man in the street won't know very much about Ross Fisher, but for golf aficionados, does it surprise you?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No, I don't think any player out here would be surprised. Most players would rate very highly and always feel like he's well capable of doing this and more, more regularly. But he's a young player, and give him time and experience. He'll grow with his experience and he's certainly one of the players that you would expect to be a mainstay of The European Tour in the future.

End of FastScripts




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