Pádraig Harrington is relishing the prospect of defending his ISPS HANDA Senior Open title as Europe’s only Senior Major returns to The King’s Course at Gleneagles this week.
The three-time Major winner – who now also holds four Senior Major titles - became the fifth player in history to win both The Open Championship and the ISPS HANDA Senior Open as he cruised to a three-shot victory at Sunningdale last year, adding his name to a roll of honour which includes Darren Clarke, Bob Charles, Gary Player and Tom Watson.
Harrington, an ambassador for title partner ISPS HANDA, won his fourth Senior Major at the U.S. Senior Open earlier this month, and the 54-year-old is hungry for more Major success on the over 50’s circuit.
He will be joined by Clarke, who lifted the trophy the last time Europe's only Senior Major was played at Gleneagles to add it to his own Claret Jug.
They are two of ten former Open champions in the field, including South African Ernie Els, Scotland's Paul Lawrie and American pair David Duval and Justin Leonard, who finished tied second in his debut in this event at Sunningdale 12 months ago.
Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson, along with Henrik Stenson, all won The Open on Scottish soil, at Turnberry, St Andrews and Royal Troon respectively, and the trio are set to make their Senior Open bow this week.
1989 Open winner Mark Calcavecchia last played at Europe's only Senior Major Championship in 2018 but he makes a welcome return for what will be his eighth appearance at the event.
Paul McGinley will be returning to the venue where he led Team Europe to victory in the 2014 Ryder Cup, alongside his Vice-Captains Padraig and Miguel Ángel Jiménez.
Jamie Donaldson, Stephen Gallacher and Stenson all played on that victorious European team, while Johnson was part of Team USA.
Donaldson secured the winning point for Team Europe on the PGA Centenary Course in 2014 after defeating Keegan Bradley 4&3 to give Europe the 14½ points needed.
It will be the 39th edition of the Senior Open, which was first played in 1987 and brings together stars from the Legends Tour and PGA TOUR Champions, the over-50s Tours based in Europe and the United States, including 15 Major champions, 29 Ryder Cup players and five Ryder Cup captains.
Player Quotes
Pádraig Harrington: I’m excited but also there is trepidation and stress when you're ever defending. You're trying to get yourself ready for the tournament, trying to get everything covered. That's kind of what Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are a little bit like. I can't wait for it to start tomorrow and get going.
Last year was a big deal for me. Having won The Open, you always want to back it up and win the Senior Open. I was surprised I was only the fifth player to do it, but it meant a lot to me to get that double.
The course is in great condition. It's pretty tight in places. I'd be happy if I finished this week without losing a golf ball, put it like that. If I can manage that, I'll probably be pretty competitive.
I feel good about my game. I've had a bit of a blowout the last couple of weeks, I don't know if it's trying too hard or I just fell out of form, but I feel good now. I kind of worked through a few things and I'm looking forward to getting out there and obviously being a little bit more in my own comfort zone.
Jamie Donaldson: It's a wonderful place, great scenery. We've got good weather this week, so yeah, looking forward to playing the Kings Course, which is playing fast and running but narrow in places and yeah, good test of golf.
It's great memories. I'm in the hotel from tonight, so it's great to be back and around that team room environment. But this week will be very different with it being obviously individual week and nobody will be getting too friendly with each other. It will be back down to business.
Suddenly you're 50, you start again, and you're playing on the Senior Tour, bits in America, bits in Europe and you're now not one of the shorter hitters. You're one of the longer hitters. It all just changes and then you're in a position to compete every week again. The courses are slightly shorter, more playable and more fun.
You're generally not going to compete week-in, week-out over 50 on the main tour but out here, that's a strong possibility. There's different goals to make, and it's just much more exciting at this time of life.
So this is the week to play well, and winning would be massive. For any individual to win this week would be a real good, strong performance that you'd have to put in because the course is playing quite tough. You have to hit the fairways. Yeah, it's going to be a really fun week.
Stephen Gallacher: Can't wait to get started tomorrow. It means a lot to me, the game of golf. I made my debut in a professional event here in 1993 as an amateur in The Scottish Open.
So obviously I played the Ryder Cup here and stuff, so it's just really nice to get back. Stay at home. Lots of friends. Very familiar with the place. The course is in magnificent condition. The weather has been so good, so can't wait.
I think the minute you drive through the gates, experience the sort of elation of winning the Ryder Cup and what it was - the sort of run-up to and how many times I've been here. Been playing here for 20-odd years.
Just a place I love coming, probably one of the best facilities in Scotland for golf. As a Scot coming back here, you just get the emotions and you just feel good the minute you walk through the gates.
We've had such good weather, the course is as good as I've ever seen it. It was ready a month ago. I'd say the only difference is the rough is pretty juicy now. It's a fair test, and you've just got to keep it straight. The greens are fast. They are pure. If the weather stays like this, it's going to be a hell of a week.
All you can do as a pro, you just want to be in contention on a Sunday with a chance to win, especially in front of my friends and family and stuff, that would be lovely.
I think if you ask the ten Scots playing in the field, they would all say a proper dream come true. Missed the chance of winning The Open, so this is the second best, if you ask me. This is probably the best tournament I'll play as a senior. And to have it in Scotland on a course, like you say, that I'm very familiar with, would be just another steppingstone and a great achievement for me and something that I would love to do.
Colin Montgomerie: So we travel the world for most of our life, back to America and back and forth, it's nice to come home, isn't it, really. It's a lovely spot. I think everyone feels the same way. I'm not saying anything that I shouldn't be saying. I think it's fantastic.
Great to play the Kings Course. And it's a lot more character, and people really love it here. It's quite bouncy out there. Obviously we've had a drought in Scotland, which is a very rare thing to put in the same sentence, but at the same time, it's quite bouncy. You've got to be careful and miss the greens at the right side or else you're in trouble. A lot of course management skills coming into it.
This is our last Major, and we have five on the Champions Tour as such. I've done well in a couple of them and performed. You know, I was in contention at the first one at the Regions where I finished third.
There's still something there. I'm 63 but the competitive juices are still wanting to flow, and I look forward to every time I tee it up.
That would be fantastic. Having finished second in The Open, it would be nice to finish up one's career with a win in the Senior Open. There's a lot of good players out there and there's a lot of talent on show here.
And I've got to hole out. If I hole out well, I have a chance. But I've got to hole out very well. I mean, the 7-footers have got to go in.
