Pádraig Harrington has majors in mind again
The 45-year old’s one-stroke victory in Vilamoura on Sunday wasn’t just the lowest winning aggregate on the European Tour this year or the lowest of his 21-year European Tour career, it was also a win that gave the three-time major winner confirmation that he’s a more lethal finisher than ever.
Having been cruelly criticised for years for his uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory — see his 32 runner-up finishes for confirmation — he’s become something of an expert closer since he turned 40.
His last runner-up finish came in the Irish Open in Killarney in 2010 and since then he’s won four times, with Sunday’s 23 under par winning total confirming that not only is he able to gut it out in a birdie-fest, he’s still got the putting game and the nerve to get over the line.
Asked if he felt he could win another major before he hangs up his spikes, he said: “I do. I absolutely do. Let’s put it like this: I don’t think anybody wants to see me there.
“If they were coming down the stretch and I am the other guy, like at the Honda Classic last year, they know I can do silly stuff down the stretch under pressure.
“That’s something guys are very aware of under pressure. I can hole a bunker shot like I did yesterday — and it was the hardest shot of the week. TV didn’t even do that bunker shot close to justice.”
As far as the nuts and bolts of Sunday’s win are concerned, Harrington is now 97th in the world and 43rd in the Race to Dubai.
And so he’s decided to try and break into the world’s Top 50 by Christmas and secure early Masters and US Open invitations by playing the three Final Series events on the European Tour rather than heading Stateside.
“There are more world ranking points, the courses suit me better and that will help me get back into the top 50,” he said of his decision to play next week’s Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player in South Africa and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai ahead of the US Tour’s final three events in Las Vegas, Mexico and Sea Island, Georgia.
“I loved Mayakoba in Mexico, but it is a very claustrophobic golf course so just like Vilamoura suited me down to the ground, that one doesn’t suit my game.” Just as he did after Hazeltine, Harrington reiterated his vow not to go for the 2018 Ryder Cup captaincy as he believes it would be a travesty to give up two years of his career when he still feels competitive.
“I want to play [in Paris in 2018],” he insisted. “It takes such an effort to be Ryder Cup captain now. It’s a couple of years of your life and selfishly I don’t want to give that up at the moment. I am focused on playing.”
Winning on Sunday justifies that believe and while he’s missed more cuts in the last four years than in the previous eight put together, his strike rate as far as victories are concerned is now hugely impressive. Putting his win down to a better attitude after reading mental coach Dave Alred’s latest book, The Pressure Principle, he also pointed to his improved putting as a massive factor in his win.
“Putting? It is very simple. I played last year with Matt Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan a couple of times and this year too and they just put a black line on the ball and rolled it.
“I have always been a feel putter and never liked doing that. But when you start seeing the young guys coming out and the way they put, you’ve got to join them.”
As for the majors, he’s seen enough good signs recently to believe he will have more chances to add to his haul and. who knows, even dream of winning one when he’s 50. “I am in a good place with the majors,” he said. “I had a nice PGA. I had a nice Open Championship. I was having a reasonably good Olympics up until the last round [when he had a neck injury].
“At all of these events, I was thinking, these are going nicely without having the week where everything went my way. My performances in those events had the promise that said, if I had a big week, it could make all the difference.”
After Sunday, another big week doesn’t look at all out of the question.
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