Bumeral sport and betting news - Less expectations, the greater chances

SOUTHPORT - Beware the golfer beaten. And do not even consider not encourage any player in the PGA Championship next month, especially if you're on crutches.

Harrington won the British Open in consecutive years

To win a major this year, apparently, you should play hurt. Pádraig Harrington was not even sure if they would be able to defend his title in the Open Championship. On Sunday, the Claret Jug again go to Ireland, where he was last year.

Despite a constant pain in the wrist, which limited to just nine holes of practice at Royal Birkdale, Harrington emerged as a "champion golfer of the year" on Sunday after the sentimental favourite Greg Norman, ran out of magic, and Ian Poulter who was unable to produce enough.

Mating, these players had no pain.

Harrington injured his left wrist while practicing. It was serious enough to warrant prevent the Ranque 14 golfer in the world can not practise on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Harrington suffered again in the afternoon preceding the start of the tournament, and then said that their ability to finish the championship was 50-50.

Yes, perserveró to rain on Thursday morning, endured winds of 60 kilometers per hour on Saturday, and leader with the pressure of winning his second consecutive British Open on Sunday.

"There is no doubt that this week helped me have an injury," said Harrington, who will rise to third place in the world ranking after finishing his round on Sunday in a coup under par. They also amount to cap the positions of the Ryder Cup. "I took all the pressure and expectations. It helped me not to think about having to defend the title. It was like playing for the first time."

Perhaps not as dramatic as the triumph of Tiger Woods last month in the U.S. Open, where he returned after not playing for two months after being operated on the knee, and rengueó at Torrey Pines until beat Rocco Mediate in a tiebreaker, then decided not to play more for the rest of the year because he needed to be operated on the knee again.

And certainly was not as serious as the operation which took Trevor Immelman just four months before winning the Masters in April. For a while, Immelman was concerned about not having cancer, when you were removing a benign tumor of the diaphragm.

But an injury to the wrist brings problems that should not be put aside, especially trying to hit the ball from the thick rough Royal Birkdale. If we add to this the cold and rain, nobody had said anything to whether Harrington had their bags on Friday night.

But the son of a policeman who played the Irish football gallic not became a multiple champion majors giving up so easily. Harrington said that would have been happy just being professional, but the stardom his talent warranted. He had to work for what you have. And that was what he did.

"If you ask me which is the best thing I have is my ability to learn," said Harrington, aged 36, who now has 13 victories on the European Tour. "Looking around me, see what's best for me, and try to internalize. I believe that steady improvement."

On Sunday was the perfect example.

For a while, he and Norman seemed to be destined for an ugly end of "match play", without either being able to do much. And when Harrington made bogey at the last three holes of the round, Norman was on the verge of victory, leading the Open Championship with nine holes to play.

But Harrington did not make bogeys. In fact, made two Birdie and an eagle to finish with 32 blows to the back.

"What Paddy was impressive," said Norman, who was looking to become the oldest player to win a major for 53 years. "The way ... ended as a true champion finishes sa way. And today it did."

Harrington joined the long list of British Open champions in consecutive years, which includes the Woods who succeeded in 2005 and 2006. But it has spent more than 100 years since Europeans do not achieved. We have to go back to Scots James Braid in 1905 and 1906. And before that the great Harry Vardon, who won six times - the most winner in the history of the British Open - and won both in 1898 and in 1899.

None of that was spent by the mind to Harrington on Sunday. Never looked at the blackboard, and did not know until the end of the round which was Poulter put into the equation. Neither knew how much money was about to win; nearly 1.5 million.

But it knew that it was desirable to finish things better so that I had done the previous year at Carnoustie. And he succeeded with an eagle on hole 17 that it meant an advantage of four blows to the last hole, something that any golfer dreams. The smile was from ear to ear, and could have lit the sky from the west coast of England to his home in Dublin.

"It was a fantastic experience to walk the last hole, knowing he had won the Open," he said. And a pretty big contrast with respect to Carnoustie, where Harrington deposited two balls into the water in the Barry Burn, and considered joining the club of Jean Van de Velde. But Harrington was recovered last year, was lucky when Sergio García made bogey at the last hole, and then won the four playoff holes. A year later, he wondered what had become of his career if it had not won at Carnoustie. He admitted that he could have put in the head.

But as it was found this weekend, deserved the Claret Jug. And that wrist injury could not have been better.