Harrington pays tribute to Torrance the 'genius'

Published on Monday 21 July 2008 23:35

PADRAIG Harrington, the two-time Open champion, yesterday hailed Bob Torrance, his swing coach, as "a genius" and the best teacher of the game to be found anywhere in the world of golf.

Ten years after the men first met on the range at Loch Lomond, the partnership between the tireless Irishman and the shrewd Scot has helped to mould the first European golfer to win more than one major title since Jose Maria Olazabal.

Long renowned in his amateur days as an outstanding chipper and putter, Harrington was smart enough to work out after turning pro that he needed to overhaul his swing if he wanted to improve. In perhaps the most successful swing re-design on this side of the Atlantic since Nick Faldo had his action taken apart by David Leadbetter, Harrington paid tribute to the 75-year-old Scot for turning him into one of the game's best ball strikers of the past decade.

"Bob is the best swing coach in the world," Harrington, 36, insisted at Birkdale the morning after he'd become the first European player in 102 years to successfully defend the Open title. "You can see his genius in the way he can analyse any swing. He's spent his whole life examining the golf swing and his knowledge of cause and effect is just incredible."

Harrington also works with Dr Paul Hurrion, the biomechanics expert, who confirmed that everything Torrance sees naturally "with his own eye and his genius" is backed up by computer analysis and scientific evidence.