Harrington finds that old magic

Bob Torrance reckons sweet swinging Padraig Harrington has rediscovered the magical swing that won him three majors in the space of 14 months.

The veteran coach, 78, insists that the Dubliner is hitting the ball even better than he was when he successfully defended the Open title at Birkdale in 2008 and went on to capture the US PGA a month later.

Torrance said: “I don’t see any flaws in his swing now. If he is in focus, I think he will win the Open again. If he is out of focus, he won’t win.

“I think he’s swinging the club superbly. He’s hitting it even better than when he won at Birkdale.”

Harrington tweaked his swing when he won his third major title in 2008 but lost form last year and needed Torrance to put him back on track.

Torrance said: “You’ve got to work as a team. You can’t have one guy thinking one thing and I am thinking another. We’ve worked as a team for 12 years.”

Harrington badly needs a big result over the next six weeks as he has just four big events remaining to secure his Ryder Cup spot.

Victory at St Andrews would put him in the team and European skipper Colin Montgomerie says he is not worried about the Dubliner.

After a Ryder Cup pow-wow with Harrington on the range at St Andrews yesterday, Monty said: “Padraig knows exactly what he has to do and I am convinced that he will pull through. I am not overly worried about Padraig Harrington.”

Eighth in the race for four places from the World Points List and 16th in the European Points List, Harrington hopes he won’t need one of Monty’s three wildcards.

He said: “My Ryder Cup position is precarious. I spoke to Monty and it’s fairly simple. Play well and he doesn’t have to worry about it and I don’t have to worry about it.

“It is a tough year to be looking for a pick. There are a lot of good players vying to get in that team. I want to make it easy for Colin and make it easy for myself.”