First, it was Tiger Woods. Now it is Padraig Harrington. It seems being injured is becoming a pre-requisite to winning a Major.
Woods won the US Open in June playing with a painful left knee. He was coming back after a lengthy lay-off, and did not have much practice, having walked his first full 18 holes after the Masters only on the first day of the US Open.
Harrington came into the British Open nursing a wrist injury, and his preparations at Royal Birkdale were curtailed to just 11 holes.
He played nine holes on Tuesday, but such was the pain he admitted there was only a five per cent chance he would finish the tournament.
He even said that if it wasn't the Open Championship, and if he wasn't the defending champion, he would have pulled out and gone home.
On Wednesday, the Irishman made two attempts to play a full practice round, but he had to abandon it after just two holes when he felt a sharp twinge in his wrist trying to hit the ball out of the thick rough.
Harrington opened with a 74 in the worst of weather conditions on Thursday, and made the most of being in the better half of the draw with a 68 on Friday. On Saturday, when the wind howled and reached speeds of 75kph, he managed a brave 72, and Sunday's 69, courtesy of a back-nine four-under, was good enough for him to lift his second Claret Jug in two years.
After the triumph, Harrington said two factors played a big role in his victory – the injury and fear.
"On Tuesday, I played nine holes and rested and thought, this is good, it's getting better. On Wednesday, I had more problems than I had on Tuesday, and I genuinely felt that there was a big issue with playing," said Harrington, who became the first European to win back-to-back Open titles since James Braid in 1905-1906.
"I sat down Wednesday evening with my physio and he was quite comfortable with all the work and was happy that he could get it right. I spent a little bit of time talking with Bob Rotella [mental coach] about whether I could play even if it was painful.
"Probably up to that point, I was worried. Bob said: 'Look, pain is there, but you can play through that'. And I was delighted that through the course of the week, I didn't have any problems, maybe a couple of twinges warming up on Thursday morning, but once I managed to hit a couple of shots out of the rough, it gave me more and more confidence.
"But honestly, the injury was a great distraction to have. It pushed everything about coming back to defend to the side.
"It took a lot of pressure off me. It also meant I was not getting ahead of myself, and concentrating on each and every shot.
"And another plus was the fact that I only played nine holes in practice, and everybody will tell you it was physically tough and mentally the toughest week we could ever have in golf.
"The fact that I didn't play three practice rounds like normal before a Major was a big bonus.
"It meant I was very fresh going into the weekend, and the 36 holes were a real battle. The wrist injury was a saviour for me, really."
And it was not just the injury, Harrington also admitted he lived in constant fear of letting himself and his fans down. "Fear has always been a motivator in my golf. After winning a Major last year, my biggest fear was not to go down the road of guys who have won Majors and struggled to keep the intensity after that," said Harrington.
"Fear is a big part of me, I would like to say that I have trust and faith in myself and my game and I can be nice and relaxed, but that's not me. Fear pushes me on, so I have to work with it and use it in my games.
"I have spent some time talking with Bob about it, because it can be quite a negative emotion to use. Certainly, for the first eight or nine years of my career, every time I took my winter break, I was anxious whether I would come out and my game would still be there.
"If you look at my results, they are always good at the start of the year, because I am anxious to get out there and prove myself again. I think I have become more comfortable in terms of whether or not a certain level of my game would be there."
And while Harrington can now enjoy a well-deserved rest, he will definitely have one less thing to fear – thanks to his Open win, his spot in the European Ryder Cup team is confirmed.
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