Thu 05 May 2007Hero at home with the pressureIrish Open:So, this is what it is like to be a
wanted man, to be Europe's top golfer. Kerching! Bank of Ireland
come in as your latest blue-chip sponsor (prominently placed over
the heart, please note); every child and mammy outside the ropes
wants a photograph, or two; and grown men - pretending it's for the
grandchild - queue up to get your signature. No pressure,
really.Politicians on the hustings would love to be as popular as
Padraig Harrington. Yesterday, on pro-am day, he couldn't move
between shots but a request of one kind or another was foisted on
him; and, mostly, he obliged. Today, though, the serious business
starts.