Harrington finally concedes ‘it’s time for change’
However, when it came to explaining exactly what he meant by “change”, Pádraig was far from explicit, except to stress that the personnel closest to him would remain very much the same. Harrington claimed he was “doing everything that I would have done that won me three majors” but added: “a spark is needed, something fresh is needed, doing the same old things every day worked before but it does need something new.”
It’s not difficult to see why Harrington is thinking in that vein. Just look at his results this season: Abu Dhabi (disqualified), Champions Bahrain (58th), Pebble Beach Pro-Am (68th), Los Angeles Open (55th), WGC Accenture World Match Play (33rd), WGC Cadillac World Championship (10th), Transition tournament (MC), Houston Open (8th), Masters (MC), China Open (MC), Quail Hollow (9th), Players Championship (MC), St Jude Classic (MC), US Open (45th), Scottish Open (14th), British Open (MC), Irish Open (MC).
Two top tens, five missed cuts and four finishes over 40 — not the kind of return you expect from a three times major champion, with his only victory since the 2008 US PGA coming in the lowly Iskandar Johor Open last year. Even so, outwardly he remains relatively unperturbed, insisting after yesterday’s 72: “I hit it very nicely all day, hitting it solid, hitting it on the fairways, hitting it on the greens, and hitting good putts that would drop on another day. If I played my golf like I played today for the rest of the year I’d be very happy.”
That’s the kind of comment that Pádraig has been making at regular intervals over the past couple of years that continue to baffle people. I certainly came into that category yesterday as I watched him needing to make a recovery from rough 20 yards to the left of the 15th fairway while his knack of all too often running up double bogeys again raised its ugly head when he took five at the short 6th after missing the green.
Given his results this year and through most of 2009 and 2010, it almost sounds like a man in denial and one wondered what these changes he spoke about could actually be.
“I’m not thinking of changing personnel. Something has to freshen up, sharpen up, make me buzzing or something. But I’m doing a lot of good things. I shot 73, 72 and got nothing over the two days. It’s not like I’m shooting 77, 78 sort of thing.
“You stay patient and wait for something to happen. You don’t know what that spark is going to be. Something has to change. It could be within me. It could be something different. I have absolutely nothing in mind. For the last 18 months, I have prepared very well for all my tournaments. You’d like to see that end up in better performances.
“You’d be surprised at the difference between shooting a good score and not such a good score. It’s just one or two shots. It’s about going at the wrong pins, not choosing my shots wisely, I wonder over the last few days if I would have got more joy by just playing into the middle of the green all the time.”
Harrington’s failure to make the cut has dealt the tournament a big blow. He remains very much the people’s champion and his absence could take up to as much as a couple of thousand off the attendance today and tomorrow. Should he be embarrassed by this? “Not in the least because I tried on every shot I hit”, he declared. “I was embarrassed once on a golf course and that was the 72nd hole at the Open at Carnoustie and I don’t think I’ll ever be embarrassed again. I felt I let everybody down. I felt like I choked. But not now, not at all. Of course it hurts to miss the cut. A lot of players can go out and miss a cut and nobody will notice. I don’t think I ever tee it up in a tournament that nobody knows when I miss a cut.”
Had he no regrets for the tournament? “No, no regret, because there’s nothing I can do about it. Why would I regret something I have no control over?”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
