Harrington ‘happy to play the mistress’

Pádraig Harrington last night admitted he is “happy to play the mistress” to world number one Luke Donald in the use of practice coach Dave Alred.

Harrington split with long-time coach Bob Torrance straight after carding a second round 72 to miss the halfway cut in July’s Irish Open.

But it has emerged that the Dubliner met with Alred, former England Rugby kicking coach, that weekend in Dublin before renewing acquaintances after his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship second round yesterday.

Three-handicapper Alred is stamping his presence in golf, playing a key role in helping Donald create history last year by becoming the first player to capture both the European and PGA Tour leading money winning titles.

However, Harrington admitted that Donald will be Aldrid’s priority and that he is happy to be second fiddle.

Harrington said: “It’s taken six months to get an appointment with Dave, so he’s a busy man and he’s good at what he does. Dave is very hands-on and if I tried to pigeon hole him into one job, you would say he’s a practice coach.

“He’s very specific and from a distance he’ll have a stack of balls laid out at various distances and that’s all for a purpose. It’s going against what I have ever done as most of my practice involves me getting the information and then I like to go off on my own and control my practice.

“He may let me loose but he is very involved. We came here to Abu Dhabi, and while Luke is also here, this is my week because he doesn’t have the ability to work with two players.

“This has been our trail week. We haven’t discussed times or dates when will again meet up, and besides Luke is always going to be the first choice, but I am happy to play the mistress in this situation.”

Harrington continued: “When I asked to work with Dave he obviously asked around and he was quite enticed by the fact he got a common response ‘he will never come back’

“I struggled last year and I’ve tailed off since the Majors but since winning the Majors I had the answer and I knew how to get there but I couldn’t do it again.

“I was putting myself under too much pressure and when you know the answer it really, really does bug you when you don’t deliver. What Dave is bringing is a refreshed way of doing the old thing.”