Harrington gets head straight to dodge twin perils of overthinking and relaxation

In a fascinating insight into his mental outlook these days, Pádraig Harrington revealed how he copes despite being unhappy with aspects of his preparation and swing.

Padraig Harrington poses with the trophy during the fourth round of the ISPS HANDA Senior Open 2025 at Sunningdale Golf Club on July 27, 2025 in Sunningdale, England. (Photo by Phil Inglis/Getty Images)

The fact he was struggling with his game gave Pádraig Harrington a mental edge in the final round of the Senior Open at Sunningdale on Sunday.

In a fascinating insight into his mental outlook these days, Harrington revealed he was unhappy with aspects of his preparation and swing, despite leading by two shots going into Sunday's fourth round.  

Breaking down the mechanics of his swing struggles, Harrington revealed his abilty to now cope with something less than perfection.

"I've been struggling this week. I've been really struggling with my coordination. I've been spinning out of it and just can't get my arms to keep up. Body was going too quick.

"When you are struggling, your expectations go down and you can be better mentally and I certainly was excellent all day mentally, and to be honest, I hit it a lot better than I thought. I played a lot better than I thought. I'm sure from the outside, they looked pretty simple, and to be honest, most of the day, it was.

"I think I really had a bad warmup, like really bad, again. And I just think when you go out like that, you just are prepared to get the job done with wherever the ball goes; you're going to hit the shot. You're going to get it. Your expectations go down.

"I managed myself very well. I tried to swing the smoothest, slowest I could all day. Just tried to really swing within myself. Just try to tone it down and as I said just get around it. I happened to play quite well as it turned out. I didn't overthink it when I was on the golf course. I hit some beautiful iron shots to start off.

"So yeah, it worked very nicely but I was prepared for a fight to be honest, and I was surprised I probably played as well as I did, and I had a lot of nice chances all day.

"I'm sure from the outside it looked very comfortable, but there was at times, there was a little bit of turmoil in my own head at times."

Harrington took the title by three shots from Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard. Just as he has learned to cope with feeling below par, he is now acutely aware of the pitfalls of relaxing when a round is going well.

"I don't want to relax. That has cost me in the past. One of my worst traits is when I lost a Senior PGA a few weeks ago by relaxing. I get ahead of myself, and you know, sometimes when it's an easy shot, easy tee shot, I can lose focus.

"So I want to stay hyped up. And to be honest, I think today, because I wasn't comfortable with my swing, I never let my guard down. I was always into it and focused all day, and yeah, I think that fear really does help me, and certainly, I'm not one for wanting to be relaxed out there because I don't think any of my best performances ever happened that way."

Harrington became just the fifth player to win the The Open and the Senior Open, joining Irishmen Darren Clarke and Christy O'Connor Jr.

"As you get older, you realise a lot of things is legacy and what you've done and you want to win on a great golf course like Sunningdale. You want to do things that stand out, and having won a real Open, coming out, winning the Senior Open, it does give some — it adds a validation. It's certainly satisfying to do it, to extend your career that way.

"There are some great names on the trophy. I was watching it coming out last night. I was looking up inside at the board that has all the winners. It's a deep sense of satisfaction. I'm kind of on a high of winning, but then there will be that deep sense of satisfaction knowing that you've done both.

"I'm thrilled to have won but very satisfied that I've won a Senior Open with my two Opens. The fact that only five people have ever done it is quite special. I'm quite proud that I've managed to survive this long in the game.

"Longevity, at this stage, I think we look for a lot of things about our legacy in the game. The fact that I'm only the fifth person to have done that double, that's pretty special."