(from SI.COM)
MAYNOOTH, Ireland (AP) -- Padraig Harrington and Jose Maria Olazabal have returned to the European Tour from the U.S. this week -- just in time to tackle one of the toughest courses they may have ever seen.
Newly designed by Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, Carton House is likely to spark despair in the Irish Open field this week. So narrow are the fairways and so deep the bunkers, the 7,300-yard layout west of Dublin resembles a lunar landscape.
There are 139 bunkers allied to narrow landing areas that Harrington believes are unmatched globally.
Asked if they were the narrowest fairways in Europe, he replied: "Yes -- and you can add the word 'world' to that."
Harrington, who won the Honda Classic in Florida in March, said: "These fairways are at least 50 percent narrower that anything you would see in the States."
Olazabal said the fairway at the second was just 16 yards wide.
By way of comparison, Harrington pointed out that the toughest hole in the U.S., the 18th at Sawgrass, is about 30 yards wide.
"This is extreme to say the least," he said. "I would say I've never seen a golf course as severe off the tee. There are doglegs and cross winds, a lot of bunkers and you can't reach the greens."
Harrington, ranked ninth in the world, downgraded his chances after suffering a recurrence of a three-year-old neck injury at the weekend.
He has played a reduced schedule since the Honda, after which he learned that his father had been diagnosed with incurable cancer, and feels that that inactivity and the injury mean he will not pose a threat this week.
"I basically haven't played enough," he said. "My game is erratic. After I won Honda, I played six rounds of golf in the next six weeks, though I did play the last two weeks. There's not enough flow in my game at the moment. I'm not competitive."
Olazabal, who has had four top-10s in nine U.S. events this year, may find his improved driving still not good enough on a course where driving straight will be essential.
"You may hit a shot that is not a bad shot and end up 12, maybe 15, feet below the green in a bunker. The severity of the bunkers is the problem. Most of the time you're just going to just hit a sand wedge out."
But Olazabal, winner of this title in 1990, said the course was not unfair.
"The only thing I dislike a bit is how deep the bunkers are. Apart from that, the golf course is fair -- extremely tough but fair," he said.
Darren Clarke concurred. "It's very good and not unfair, just stunningly difficult," he said.
No one criticized Montgomerie.
"He wanted the emphasis on driving and it is as he wanted it when he was designing it," Harington said. "He's a magnificent driver of the golf ball. He sees the driving as the easy part. He's gone and made this as tough as you can off the tees."
Clarke said he expected the halfway cut to be higher than last week's British Masters cut of seven over.
Montgomerie said he was surprised that his course had been awarded this event.
"Of all the honors I've received or won in my career, this is by far the best," he said.
But he is preparing himself for the backlash.
"I think the 155 of my harshest critics will be teeing off Thursday and I don't mind admitting I will be on tenterhooks waiting for their judgment," he said.