Why Europe's Major drought will end soon

Why Europe's Major drought will end soon It is sobering to report that this month, as we approach the 2005 US Open over the peerless No. 2 course at Pinehurst in North Carolina, it is now some five years and eleven months since a British or Irish golfer won one of the game's four major championships. Scotland's Paul Lawrie would gladly accept a pound for each time his name is mentioned in this context but even he must be wondering when this somewhat depressing winless draught will come to an end. When Lawrie overhauled the hapless Jean Van de Velde to win the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie it was assumed in some quarters that he would be at the vanguard of a new wave of British and Irish major winners. Since then, however, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke have all been touted as potential Major champions but, to date at least, neither the Scot, the Englishman nor their colleague from Northern Ireland have come closer than to knock at the door. The much maligned Lawrie is, in fact, the only British or Irish golfer to win a major title since Nick Faldo claimed the last of his three Green Jackets back in 1996 but the signs are that might be about to change. Both England's Luke Donald and Ireland's Padraig Harrington appear on the cusp of challenging for the top honours and both arrive at Pinehurst very much in form. Pinehurst, a venerable Donald Ross masterpiece set amongst stately pines some 75 miles south of Raleigh Durham International airport, is a course that favours accurate hitters, solid putters and men with patience under pressure. Last time the US Open was held there, in 1999, the much-missed Payne Stewart held off the challenge of the mercurial Phil Mickelson. This year, Mickelson, will be there or thereabouts again, as will be Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and defending champion, Retief Goosen. Pinehurst is a course on which true champions tend to prosper which is why I suspect that both Donald, the implacable Englishman, and Harrington, his relentless Ryder Cup colleague, will challenge, too. Certainly, both have the prowess to do it, and in the process put British and Irish golf back on the major map. Donald, who hails from Beaconsfield but has spent most of his adult life in America, is a golfer who has promised much since his teenage years. Peter McEvoy, his Walker Cup captain in both 1999 and 2000, was quick to single him out as a star of the future and since then, he has done nothing to suggest that his captain might be wrong. The Englishman turned professional in 2001 and to date has won once in America and twice on the European Tour. This year, following a successful Ryder Cup debut last autumn, he has finished tied second at The Players' Championship and the Buick Invitational and in a share of third place at the Masters. Donald's game is based on accuracy and sound course management, two attributes that assume extreme importance at a US Open venue. He does not overpower a golf course, like a Woods, a Singh or an Els, but does not need to. This year, as I a write, he owns the second-best scoring average on the US PGA Tour, that total of 69.17 being testament to a cool head under pressure and a superb all-round game. At 28, Donald still might not be the finished article, but 33 year-old Harrington certainly is. Back in 2000, when the Irishman briefly challenged at Tiger Woods' US Open at Pebble Beach (ultimately finishing tied fifth), he was already one of the game's great thinkers but was held back by a sometime recalcitrant swing. Not any longer. Having worked tirelessly under the tutelage of Bob Torrance, he has ironed out those occasional glitches and has also gained considerable distance from the tee. Last month, he achieved one of his goals when he claimed his first PGA Tour title at the Honda Classic. Subsequently, he has not played much preferring, instead, to spend time with his ailing father. However, a Major title is looming. That much is sure.