Pádraig the man with a plan as he sets sights on Gleneagles
It is a confidence based on a plan which has set targets for the year ahead. The first is to get back into the world top 50 and qualify for all the big-money events. The second is to launch an intensive challenge to return to the European Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014.
The identity of the captain should be known in eight days and if the decision in Abu Dhabi next Tuesday by the Tour’s Tournament Committee comes down in favour of Paul McGinley or Darren Clarke, he will be primed for a spot on the team.
Harrington, who has publicly advocated McGinley being appointed for next year at Gleneagles and Clarke at Hazeltine two years later, is determined to be in Gleneagles no matter who the captain may be.
The question is, will he ever get back to where he used to be? Having captured three Majors in 14 months in 2007 and ’08, it would be asking an awful lot to expect him to get back to that level.
However, given his commitment, self-belief and fitness, there seems no good reason why the 41-year-old shouldn’t become a regular winner. The battle for 2014 Ryder Cup points won’t begin until next September but Harrington already sees it as a spur, even at this early stage.
“I just hope I can take something from what happened at Medinah because watching Europe win inspires you,” he stressed.
“Of course I am very keen to qualify for Gleneagles. But if you don’t make it into the team automatically, you can’t have any regrets. You can’t second-guess getting a pick if you don’t make it on merit.”
But he also asserted: “I know I’m going to play plenty more Ryder Cups.”
Whether his game is still good enough to make his way into Europe’s top 12 at a time when the standard is at an all-time high remains to be seen. The first indication comes this week in Durban where he is joined by fellow Irishmen Clarke, Shane Lowry and Michael Hoey.
“I was playing really well towards the end of 2012 and now I am looking forward to getting out on Tour again and competing,” he stressed. “I think this is an ideal tournament to start my year off where there is a limited 33-man elite field, no cut and beautiful weather.
“In 2012, tee to green, I hit it further than I had in years. I hit it straighter, hit my irons well, my wedges the best ever, my bunker shots the best ever. I chipped the difficult chips well, the simple chips not as well and my putting wasn’t as good.”
The problem certainly lay with his putting and for Harrington’s countless fans, seeing him frequently miss from three and four feet was deeply frustrating.
“I am changing my release with coach Pete Cowen and I have one technical and one mental thing that I am working on that will get me putting the way I want,” he insisted.
“Up until the end of last August, I was struggling with my putting, I’d hit a bad putt and wonder, what am I doing. I didn’t know what was up. Now I know that my putting stroke had got too long and slow.”
You can’t help thinking if a player of Harrington’s stature, who finished eighth in the Masters in April and third in the US Open in June, can get his putting right great things may lie ahead.
A decent performance in Durban followed by a similar experience in Abu Dhabi next week alongside world No 1 Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods would make for a nice start to the campaign.
