The aches and gains of a year with the Claret Jug

Jul 13 2008 By Euan Mclean

WITHOUT wishing to sound ungrateful, Padraig Harrington admits winning The Open has given him quite a few headaches.

First there was the hangover the morning after a legendary post-victory party in Dublin thrown in his honour by Celtic supremo Dermot Desmond.

Then a less conventional headache caused by his aversion to the barrage of flash photography that goes off like a strobe light every time he's spotted with the famous Claret Jug.

But Harrington laughs as he recalls the biggest pain posed during his year-long adventure as reigning Open champ - trying to smuggle the trophy out of a taxi without the golf-mad cabbie realising the most famous jug in sport (below) was leaking whisky all over his back seat.

Harrington smiled: "The strangest thing I did was taking the trophy to San Francisco to show it to a number of friends who live there.

"I had it out at two pubs called Foley's and The Irish Bank - drinking whisky out of it and everything - and coming home at night we had it in a steel box.

"We got in a taxi and the cabbie was driving with one hand while wearing a golf glove which is obviously a bit odd.

"So we were throwing out a few golfing terms while I sat there with the Claret Jug and it just dawned on methe whisky had not been drained out of the trophy.

"I felt it dripping through the case on to my leg and was trying to keep the thing balanced so it didn't all spill out.

"All I could think was 'I hope he doesn't see this'. I got out hurriedly while my two mates continued on elsewhere in the cab.

"Apparently after I had gone my mates told the driver it was the Claret Jug, The Open trophy, in my case and of course he never believed it!

"But I have put it out there a few times on San Francisco radio so he has probably heard the story by now and is thinking it actually WAS the Claret Jug.

"I'm sorry I didn't take it out to show him but I was more worried about the little bit of spillage so I left in a hurry.

"I've had a few wild weeks thanks to that jug. We had an all-night party Dermot threw in The Emporium casino in Dublin and it was just phenomenal, totally unforgettable.

"I've had a great time but the one thing I learned with the Claret Jug is it's a magnet if you have it with you.

"The best thing you can do is actually get it as far away from you as possible because people will queue up to take a picture and you could go 24 hours without stopping.

"One thing I did suffer with in the last year, and I will have to do something about it, is flash photography.

"I struggled with headaches and things like that.

"Whether I have a bit of strobe sensitivity I don't know but whoever invented these cameras that flash then stop then flash again ...

"I had a couple of situations where I really struggled with headaches because of continuous photographs.

"So that's one thing and maybe next time I'm going to have to put the trophy over there and me over here."