• The Open

Harrington hoping wet weather decimates Open field

ESPN staff
July 18, 2012

Padraig Harrington is hopeful that the atrocious weather scenes witnessed ahead the start of The Open can help to shred away some of the competition.

The Irishman and the remainder of the field taking part at the 141st Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes have been observing the poor conditions in the lead-up to teeing off on Thursday, and while many will not have much of an appetite for playing in the wet Harrington sees the benefit.

"There's going to be ebb and flow during the week, you're going to get some good breaks and some bad breaks," said the two-times Open winner. "You'll be walking up to some holes and you're going to see that rain coming in and you'll be hoping it holds off to get through that tee shot.

"But that's the nature of links golf, you tend to be able to see the bad weather when it's coming at you."

Asked whether he would prefer to play through some testing conditions, Harrington confirmed that he views it as a potential aid.

"I think yes, I would like some of the golf to be tough this week, some of the conditions, but I know myself when you have 72 holes of a rainy tournament it's nearly last man standing at that stage and that's really difficult for everybody," he explained.

"I would like to see certainly 18 holes, if not 36 holes of difficult conditions because that will cut enough of the field out and hopefully I won't be one of those."

Harrington took two of his three career major titles at The Open in 2007 and 2008.

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