Harrington is still optimistic

Pádraig Harrington tees off at Wentworth today more in hope than confidence he can continue his recent good form.

The three-time major winner, one of 11 Irish golfers in the field this week at the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship, flew in from America having contended for three rounds in last week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas.

A final-round 74 saw him drop down the leaderboard on Sunday but with his confidence over the putter renewed, Harrington would have had a strong argument for staying in Texas and continuing the feelgood factor by playing the PGA Tour’s Crowne Plaza Colonial tournament this week rather than fly back to Europe to a tournament he has played just twice in since 2007.

“I’m only here purely because it’s the flagship event of the European Tour,” Harrington said. “It doesn’t suit my schedule and I find the golf course very difficult. There’s a lot of reasons not to be here and there’s one big reason to be here.”

That one big reason is loyalty and the Dubliner explained: “I come back, basically, every second year, Ryder Cup years, for the European Tour and I come back optimistic it’s all going to change around and I’ll love the place and have a great year. So that’s the way I go about it.

“This is playing extremely tough. You’ve got to take the right attitude out there. It’s not a 20 under par week. You’ve got to make every par you can, throw a few birdies in because you’re going to make some bogeys. It really is a tough course.”