Pádraig in a Lone Star state of mind
Harrington, especially, has been indulging in a great deal of transatlantic travel of late, but it doesn’t seem to have done him any harm, even if he admitted to a degree of jet lag and tiredness towards the end of last week. However, he jetted out for Texas on Sunday along with his family, wife Caroline, sons Paddy and Ciaran, mother Breda, parents-in-law Dermot and Mary Gregan and caddie Ronan Flood in good heart and hopeful of another solid performance that would put him in the right frame of mind for next week’s Masters.
So far this year, Harrington has finished 16th, 40th, third and eighth on the US Tour, finishes that suggest his game is reaching an impressive level of consistency.
“I just did a little bit if practice at home, nothing too major, just maintenance really,” he claimed. “Playing the Transition Championship a couple of weeks ago was a great decision. The course was one of the best of the year and tested every part of your game. It was a tournament of two halves. I played nicely for the first two rounds and I was terrible over the weekend.
“I just felt that I was going to hit it anywhere and a lot of the time I did. I ended up shooting two 72s which, considering how I played, was a great return. It dropped me to a tie for eighth which was disappointing considering I was leading after two rounds but it was also a good achievement considering where I was hitting it.”
In spite of that faltering finish, Pádraig took a lot of positives from the week. “I stuck to my guns and went through my routines and wasn’t trying to fix anything on the course and still managed to create plenty of birdie chances. You can’t beat the feeling of playing in the last couple of groups on a Sunday with a chance to win.”
Rory McIlroy has been troubled by a sore back for some time and that’s one reason why he skipped the Transitions tournament. The year began brightly for the youngster with third and sixth-place finishes in Abu Dhabi and Dubai but he could do no better than 40th in the Honda Classic and 65th in the WGC-CA Championship on his two outings in the States so he will be looking for a morale booster in Texas this week.
McIlroy is always willing to listen and learn and has been doing so in the illustrious company of people like Phil Mickelson, Dr Bob Rotella and Jack Nicklaus. Mickelson imparted some useful knowledge as they played together in a couple of tournaments while Rotella (the game’s most noted mind analyst and a key member of Harrington’s entourage) has been helping with the mental side of the game.
And when the opportunity came to lunch with Nicklaus, McIlroy’s cup of joy was full to overflowing. Although he admitted to nervousness in the Golden Bear’s company, that didn’t deter the 20-year-old from picking his brains and gleaning all he could from the conversation.
“One of the things I remember best is that he said he played his best ever at the Turnberry Open in 1977,” McIlroy recalled. “It’s the one Watson won. Jack played his best and he didn’t win. He told me there were other times when he didn’t play his best but he got the job done. The biggest thing I took from that was patience, how to learn to wait and bide your time and know if you believe in yourself it will happen.”
Paul Casey defends his title in Texas where he is assured of massive support having handed over $100,000 (€74,000) of his winner’s cheque last year to local causes. Other Europeans in the field include Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Justin Rose while Phil Mickelson, who shot 75, 78 over the weekend in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, hopes the tournament will get him on track heading to Augusta.
Graeme McDowell will be inactive this week and that’s probably not a good thing given the way he finished the Palmer tournament at Bay Hill. Having played himself into the top five early in the second round, he collapsed disastrously over the closing holes, following up a three-putt bogey at the short 17th with an horrendous triple bogey eight at the 18th to miss the cut by a shot.
That was particularly disappointing given he had won three points out of four in helping Lake Nona to win the Tavistock Cup earlier in the week and was in terrific form until everything went pear-shaped. McDowell is a positive person who expressed confidence that it wouldn’t prevent him from preparing positively for his third visit to Augusta, where he tied for 17th last year. There is no tournament on the European Tour this week.
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