Padraig Harrington foresaw Francesco Molinari success at The Open
"What happened had been coming for the last year"
By Liam Grace
Last Updated: 23/07/18 10:25am
Padraig Harrington says Francesco Molinari played "beautiful golf" and deserved to win The Open at Carnoustie on Sunday.
Molinari, 35, claimed the first major title of his career after posting the only bogey-free final round of the tournament, fighting off fierce competition from Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
Harrington missed the cut this year - but 2018 marks ten years since he lifted his second-consecutive Claret Jug - and the Irishman was full of praise for his fellow Open champion.
"He's a very deserved winner," Harrington told Sky Sports News. "This has been coming for a while with Frankie.
"I think about 18 months ago he started working with [coach] Dave Alred and I've worked with Dave myself in the past.
"I was keeping a close eye on him and I could see how his form has changed over that period.
"I know people would have seen his good results in the last couple of weeks but what happened had been coming for the last year."
Molinari admitted he was in "disbelief" after having his name engraved on the Claret Jug despite his impressive form heading into the tournament, due to his previously poor record.
Woods was one of Molinari's closest challengers and said he was "ticked off" at missing out on a golden chance to clinch his 15th major title, but Harrington was full of praise for the eventual champion's style of play.
"If you took out everyone else in the field, Frankie does play beautiful golf. He kept it very simple all day, no bogies and two birdies.
"Carnoustie tends to throw up lots of highs and lows, that's why the leaders tend to find it very hard to lead for the last eight holes.
"Generally, someone wins from behind. I won from six shots back, it's a golf course which is hard to lead on but Frankie did a superb job in playing his own game and doing his own thing. He was constant."
