SOUTHPORT, England -- How tough was it Thursday in the opening round of the British Open? Some selected comments:

Boo Weekley (80): "If this is summer, I couldn't live here."

Retief Goosen (71): "I don't mind tough conditions. In a way you feel that maybe half of the field is sort of not trying anymore."

Lee Westwood (75): "You'd like to go and have a bath and watch people struggle on the TV. I'm afraid that doesn't work. I have to go and figure it out myself." (On the sixth hole, Westwood marked, lifted and replaced his ball on the green, but before he could play his next stroke, his ball was blown down a slope in front of the green. Westwood had to play the ball from its new position, off the green, but holed the chip shot for a bogey 5.)

Vijay Singh (80): "It was miserable, miserable, miserable weather. . . . I didn't play badly."

Heath Slocum (73), who got into the field when Toru Taniguchi withdrew because of a back injury: "I didn't pack appropriately."

Ian Poulter (72), when asked if the conditions were the toughest he'd ever experienced in the Open: "No. Saturday at Muirfield in '02 [when Tiger Woods' Grand Slam bid ended with an 81]. We all remember that one, don't we? That was a lot worse than this, but it lasted only nine holes."

Padraig Harrington (74): "I think I had 88 yards on the par-5 15th, and as it turned out, I thought I was being clever hitting 9-iron. I probably should have hit 8-iron. There were other shots out there, 170 yards, and you're saying, 'Well, I can't get there with 4-iron; I have to hit 3-iron.' . . . It was a big golf course today."

David Duval (73), on keeping the ball low, including while making a birdie-3 at the 346-yard fifth hole: "Frankly, there's no other way to play today. . . . I hit it really low off the tee with a 2-iron, hit it six feet off the ground with a 6-iron, and it rolled onto the green."

Mike Weir (71), when asked to compare his round with a second-round 71 at Carnoustie in 1999 after opening with an 83: "Pretty similar. I probably played a little better in that round in Carnoustie, given the circumstances after an awful first round."

Justin Rose (74): "You can't feel the putter, and there's no feel."

Colin Montgomerie (73), saying a higher power was at work: "Unfortunately, He's in charge, and He messed up today."

--Mike O'Malley

SOUTHPORT, England -- For a non-contact sport, golf certainly seems to have its fair share of walking wounded as the British Open gets ready to commence Thursday at Royal Birkdale. There's Tiger Woods, of course, missing his first major as a professional because of his bum left knee/leg. Last week Englishman Luke Donald, No. 21 in the World Ranking, pulled out of the Open because the left wrist he hurt in the final round of the U.S. Open hasn't healed.

Now there's a real possibility that Padraig Harrington, the defending British Open champion, could miss his Thursday tee time as well because of an injury to his right wrist suffered Saturday. No, it didn't come when R&A officials tried prying the claret jug out of his hands; Harrington says he hurt it while swinging a golf club into an impact bag during a practice session.

To avoid further damage, Harrington had shut things down for a few days and played only nine holes at Birkdale Tuesday, avoiding hitting any shots from the thatchy rough. He walked the remaining holes with his foursome that included Woody Austin, Stephen Ames and Damien McGrane, hitting only shots around the green. (Harrington's caddie, Ronan Flood, dropped off the bag at the turn and carried only a few wedges and the putter.)

"Obviously I have to manage it between now and then," Harrington told reporters Tuesday when asked about whether he might have to withdraw from the tournament. "I've got to make sure I don't do anything to it. If I do nothing to it between now and Thursday, I'll be able to play."

Harrington wound up doing close to nothing on Wednesday. While hitting balls on the driving range, he hit only a handful of full shots on the course before deciding to stick with chipping and putting again for the rest of his practice round.

-- Ryan Herrington

Think they're happy in Ireland? Consider this reaction from The Independent newspaper following Padraig Harrington's win at Carnoustie:

That we should be alive today to witness Irish sporting history made by a modest hero from Dublin is simply wonderful.

The Holy Grail that was the British Open, the oldest and most respected golf Major of them all, has been brought back to Ireland for the first time in 60 years.

Victory by Pádraig has at a single stroke done for Irish golf what Jack Charlton's team did for the national soccer prestige when they qualified for the 1988 European Championships.

Probably the only people in the United Kingdom who were sad about Harrington's victory were the bookies.

"It was an absolute nightmare of a result for us in Ireland. We've been absolutely cleaned out." Tony Kenny, spokesman for booking agency William Hill, which paid out ?3,000,000 ($4,142,843) on Harrington, who started the British Open as a 28-1 shot.