Harrington hopes plenty practice will iron out swing faults

IT’S been a turbulent year in many ways for Pádraig Harrington and nothing seems to change.

Last July, his father Paddy passed away after a long illness and only three days ago he was in Castletownbere for the burial of his 97-year-old grandmother Margaret Harrington.

Padraig’s affection and admiration for Margaret meant that he gladly made the trip from Dublin to the Beara Peninsula to pay his last respects. The wind and rain there contrasted starkly with the bright, warm sunshine that greeted him on arrival in Valderrama for the European Tour’s season ending 4 million Volvo Masters starting tomorrow.

And it was straight to work for Harrington with his coach, the veteran Scot Bob Torrance, as they attempted to cure some of the ills that have ruined Padraig’s customary consistency over the past four months.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t believe the Costa del Golf’s outstanding lay-out gives him much chance of challenging the likes of Colin Montgomerie and Michael Campbell as they indulge in their own private head-to-head to decide on Europe’s top player for 2005.

“This is a course on which I’ve never played well and I’ve got to be realistic,” Harrington admitted last night. “It’s a short, tight course and not one that has suited me in the past. It suits the guys who hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. Monty fits very much into that category and it will be a good course too for Campbell.

“No matter how good your short game is, you’ll struggle to get up and down from around these greens. I’m coming in here in crappy form. I’ll go out and try my best but I would most certainly say I’d be more hopeful of getting my game in shape to play well in the next couple of weeks.”

Harrington, Torrance and caddie Ronan Flood spent something like eight hours experimenting on the Valderrama practice ground figuring out where improvements could be made.

However, one particular area dominated the marathon session: “I’ve been standing closer to the ball because I’ve been reaching a little bit,” he explained. “That in turn has been affecting my takeaway. When you stand too far away, you can get independent, your arms swing inside, then your arms go up, you cross the line with the clubface shut. When I stand closer, I tend to take the club up more and it stays on plane more. The clubface is open, there is more rotation in that, but now it feels really awkward. It will take a long time to get used to. I wouldn’t have made the change if Bob wasn’t here. I wouldn’t have known it needed to be done.”

Reflecting on where his career has gone so far in 2005, he insisted: “I feel good about my game just as I have done all year although it’s been very erratic. Why? Who knows. That’s the nature of the game at times.

“It will be easy to assess this year. I’ve won twice in the States and twice in Ireland. In two years time, all we’ll remember is that I won twice in the States and so it will go down as a good year. But at the end of this year it won’t go down as a good year because I was erratic and certainly not showing the same consistency of past years.

“My usual nine week break at the end of the year will really help in starting 2006 fresh but I have five more tournaments before that and I have to get out there and play.

“I have to work, do the professional thing, do everything right, prepare properly and go out and play with lots of hope and confidence. Traditionally, I’ve been strong at the beginning and end of the year because I’m motivated. It hasn’t kicked in yet, though I suppose third place at the Dunhill Links was okay and I had an opportunity there. As for the Amex, on the Wednesday I was playing my best golf in a year but started out by missing a few putts, probably pushed it a bit too much on the course. It was one of those weeks.”

Only two players finished behind Harrington that week. This is his first competitive outing since. It would want to be a whole lot better.