Learning to play the mental game

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON claims he doesn’t read the newspapers. So when I put it to him last night that more and more pressmen were writing that he was about to join the likes of Phil Mickelson as “one of the best players in golf not to have won a major”, he said he was unaware of any such speculation.

True to form, though, he was quick to turn the question to his own benefit.

"It's a big compliment and I'm very happy to be compared with the likes of Phil Mickelson," he declared with a broad smile. "For people to say I should have won a major by now or that I should go and win one in the future, that's a big compliment. I've come a long way for somebody to be saying that.

"From where I've come in golf, I don't think anybody would have been saying that about me two years ago. It obviously shows the game is going in the right direction and that's certainly something I can be very happy about.

"In 20 years time I might be aggrieved if I haven't won a major provided I keep playing well and keep having chances or something along those lines. But at the moment I've only ever had one real chance of winning a major."

The "real chance" Harrington refers to came, of course, last year at Muirfield and even then majority opinion seems to be he threw that one away. I don't subscribe to that view, believing it was a cold putter rather than a wayward drive at the 18th that cost him dearly, and he sees things in a similar light.

"Muirfield actually gave me confidence, the fact that I came so close playing well from tee to green," he insisted. "On other occasions, I got close in majors due to good putting, a good short game and a good mental strategy. At Muirfield, it was very much my long game that got me into position.

"For me to win a major I obviously need to have the full package, play well tee to green, and chip and putt and think well. At Muirfield I was very close except I had a poor week on the greens. It was the first time my long game was up to scratch. I was working for four years with Bob Torrance (his coach) at that point and that was my goal, to get my long game to a standard that could play golf at the highest levels.

"Muirfield would have been a big step for me even though I had top 10s in two other majors. I think I led the Masters, but that was early on. You have to be in the hunt right down to the end. And it was the first one that sort of said, yeah, I was capable of doing it.

"When you finish fifth in a major, which I have done a few times, you can do it without necessarily competing for the title. You're under pressure but you're not really competing to win. At Muirfield, I felt I was through the back nine and my game held up it did say to me that I could do it. Yes."

Torrance is a huge influence on Harrington and tries all he knows to make his favourite Irishman a less complicated if not downright complex golfer.

Padraig admits: "If I had his confidence, I'd be okay. He just wishes I'd go and do it without thinking too much about it. But that's my nature. I sometimes tend to put a lot of thought into things and overcomplicate them. Muirfield proved I have the ability if I don't get in my own way and I do that at times. It's a case of getting my head right."

All true, and it's ironic that he should have a good relationship with renowned American sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella. And in spite of Torrance's desire that Harrington not think so much about the game, the pair of them were hard at work a few minutes after the player had said that maybe he should tone down this side of his game just a little.

As for a likely winner this week, Harrington believes most of the 156 strong field are in there with every chance.

"All the players here are capable of good golf and know how to the get the ball around. But somebody going out swinging great might score worse than somebody who's hitting it poorly and uses his head around the course. It certainly is not a long hitters course because of all the run on the ball. There's nothing out there except for the mental strategy."