By Joel Beall
The new schedule announced Tuesday by the PGA Tour wasn’t the massive overhaul delivered in 2018, which saw the PGA Championship move to May, the Players Championship return to March and the postseason shortened from four events to three. Those changes were the equivalent of stripping a house to its framework. Comparatively, the 2021-22 calendar is knocking down the rusty swing set, adding ficuses to the backyard and applying a new coat of paint to the guest house.

Still, with the PGA Tour and European Tour only nine months into their “strategic alliance,” this isn’t the end of the upkeep. According to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, Tuesday’s schedule alterations were the first of more touch-ups to come.

“This is just a step. We think it’s a really important step,” Monahan said. “We think it’s a very strong indication of what we can do together. And for us, we’re going to continue to focus on what we can control and continue to make some significant advancements.”

Our Dan Rapaport and Dave Shedloski have the schedule breakdown, but here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s news.

Full 2021-22 PGA TOUR Schedule: pic.twitter.com/YYfoNEgDIW

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) August 3, 2021

A win for coffee golf
One of the best stretches of the season is the early-morning marquees from Ireland and Scotland in the Open Championship lead-up, showcasing a type of golf that remains sadly foreign to most in the United States. In that same breath, there is always a feeling these events could be more, as the Irish and Scottish Opens don’t always visit the best courses the countries have to offer and boast good-but-not-great fields. The PGA Tour’s commitment to both—the Irish sees its purse double, the Scottish now a co-sanctioned event—will help enrich the experience. Bigger paydays and points on the line likely will bring more top American players to the Old World events. Notably, neither event has a stated host course for 2022; here’s hoping the tournaments avoid newer resorts and gravitate towards the classic gems that fuel the romanticism of links golf.

Big playoff cities, out
Since its debut in 2007, the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs have has stops that have visited three big markets—New York, Boston and Chicago—with the occasional detour to Denver, St. Louis and Philadelphia. Those metropolises will no longer have an annual spot on the calendar now that Northern Trust is out as the sponsor for the first Playoff event and FedEx takes over by bringing the event to the company’s backyard in Memphis. Meanwhile, BMW takes the second leg of the postseason in 2022 to Wilmington, Del.

To be fair, the New York City metro area has more than received its share of love, hosting two U.S. Opens, a PGA Championship and Presidents Cup in the past four years along with three Northern Trust events. Boston, meanwhile, will be home for next year’s U.S. Open. Still, that the tour won’t have a yearly spot in two of the three biggest American cities or a visit to New England’s hub is interesting.

But, as Monahan reminded, don’t expect this departure to be permanent. “For us it’s really a matter of when, not if, we’ll be back,” he said.

Mike Ehrmann
The start of the Bear Trap at PGA National.

Honda Classic, Rocket Mortgage Classic get bumps
Zero golfers among the world top 15 played in this year’s Honda Classic despite being a de facto home game for roughly 40 percent of pros on tour, an upshot of the Honda falling between the Players and WGC-Dell Match Play. The field wasn’t particularly strong the previous two years when it followed the WGC-Mexico Championship, either. With the Mexico Championship moved to May, the Honda—the longest running sponsor of a tour event—returns as the kickoff to the Florida Swing, and though the preceding Genesis Invitational may zap some of PGA National’s starpower, it’s in a far better position than it’s been the past several seasons.

As for Detroit, the tournament—which has failed to draw the likes of Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy or Justin Thomas in its three-year infancy—now gets a better chance at those big names by moving to one of the final weeks before the playoffs begin.

Valspar takes (another) hit
There are close to 50 events on the calendar. Though they all fall under the tour’s umbrella, they are also autonomous, leaving the events fighting among themselves for player commitments and calendar space. With the top 10-15 players competing in a little more than half, that is a hard math that leaves a good number of tournaments outside the fire. If there’s one event feeling cold at the moment, it has to be the Valspar Championship. The Valspar was a casualty of the PGA Tour’s schedule 2018 realignment, getting sandwiched between the Players and WGC-Dell Match Play. After a one-year move to late April/early May, it’s now going back to the Players-Match Play burger.

Mike Ehrmann

Two alternates get a boost, the other … not so much
The Scottish Open earning co-sanction status was the headliner of Tuesday’s announcement, yet two other tournaments earned the co-sanctioned blessing: the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship. Both will continue as alternate events—the Barbasol played across from the Scottish Open, the Barracuda the same week as the Open Championship—yet the co-sanction status opens the events to 50 European Tour members and awards points to both the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai, theoretically strengthening the fields of each.

However, another alternate, the Puerto Rico Open, wasn’t so fortunate. It is a tournament that has looked to be getting axed from the schedule before, so its mere survival is a victory in itself. Conversely, instead of playing against a WGC event as it’s annually done, the Puerto Rico Open now faces the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Unless it plans to open spots up to rising Korn Ferry Tour players, it could be a struggle for Puerto Rico to fill out its field.

The post Five under-the-radar takeaways from the PGA Tour’s new 2021-22 schedule appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 25-year-old has long been tipped for big things in the game and his maiden European Tour victory at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic confirmed his prodigious talent. Herbert now stands on the brink of winning one of the Europe’s most historic national opens, and he would join Ossie Pickworth (1950) and Brett Rumford (2004) as Australian winners of the prestigious title.

He looked to be steaming clear of the chasing pack midway through round three at Mount Juliet Estate, opening up a three-stroke advantage after a stunning opening 10 holes which yielded four birdies without a single dropped shot.

The Victoria player struggled, however, to adjust to the swirling winds in the late afternoon and a pair of bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes pulled him back toward the rest of the field on a 15 under total, as he signed for a two-under third round 70. Mikko Ilonen of Finland was the last wire-to-wire winner of this event back in 2014.

“I played okay. In one aspect, it’s kind of frustrating. I could have really put a good one away and felt like I got too far away from the majority of the field, but 15 probably has just left the door open a touch.

“So still going to have to really be on it tomorrow. Also it was pretty tough out there. The back nine, the wind was swirling and blowing a lot. Didn’t hit a lot of bad shots, couldn’t quite get some putts to fall. Felt like I maybe played all right but just didn’t get the reward for it. But I can’t be too upset.

Herbert has a simple game plan for Sunday but knows it won’t be easy given what is on the line.

“I’m trying to stick to my own goals. If I can get to 20-under, I feel like it’s going to be pretty hard to catch, and if I am caught, someone has played really good golf and they probably deserve to win it. If I can stick to my own goals, hopefully holding a trophy or anything like that takes care of itself.

“The Irish Open is pretty cool and if you can win an event with Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy in the field, I don’t think anyone’s going to try to knock that out of your possession any time soon.

“So tomorrow is a massive chance, and obviously I think in time to come I’ll probably look back on it and realise it more, but at the moment, I’m trying to stay pretty focused on the moment and really feel like I just play my game and let that sort of take care of itself.”

Johannes Veerman of the USA will be harbouring hopes of a dream maiden title as he sits one shot back following a five-under 67, while South African Justin Harding is two shots further back on 12 under after a stunning 65 early in the day – the 35-year-old already has one win under his belt this season at the Magical Kenya Open presented by Johnnie Walker.

Former Ryder Cup players Tommy Fleetwood and Thomas Pieters lie six shots off the pace in a share of 12th position, while Cormac Sharvin is the leading home player – the Northern Irishman carded a 69 for a seven-under total, two ahead of Graeme McDowell on five under while Rory McIlroy carded a one-over par 73 for a four-under total.

The post Herbert homes in on wire-to-wire Dubai Duty Free Irish Open win appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The Ryder Cup doesn’t start until the last week of September. But captain Pádraig Harrington just logged the match’s first point for the Europeans.

Harrington is back in his homeland this week playing in the European Tour’s Irish Open at Mount Juliet. While the three-time major winner proved he can still play earlier this year with a T-4 at the PGA Championship, Harrington showed Tuesday he’s a savvy politician, offering all caddies on site a round of drinks on him for their support at the upcoming biennial event.

“We may be a European Team, but we are a global tour so no matter what country you are from (including America!) please enjoy a drink on me at your hotel bar,” read a note from Harrington. “Hopefully we will all be raising another glass after a Ryder Cup victory in September.”

Including America. Either Harrington is trying to plant a secret agent in the U.S. ranks, or he’s just that good of a dude. We are going with the latter … we think.

Still, good on Harrington for looking out for the loopers. Ball’s in your court, Steve Stricker.

The post Padraig Harrington logs first point of Ryder Cup thanks to generous drink offer at Irish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

In additional to Abu Dhabi, the traditional season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, the Scottish Open and the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth are also understood to have their purses elevated to $8 million next season ahead of them becoming events co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour in 2022.

During final-round coverage of the 2020 DPWTC on Sunday, European Tour CEO Keith Pelley told a global television audience that the 2021 schedule would be released this week but said it would be 2022 when the new alliance with the PG Tour would become most apparent to fans.

However, if the report by respected Telegraph correspondent James Corrigan is founded, the new partnership is set to have an almost immediate impact with McIlroy’s last appearance on his home circuit, outside of the majors and WGCs, having been the 2019 DPWTC at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

RELATED: Lee Westwood, a Race to Dubai champion three times over, is thrilled to prove he’s ‘still got it’

The quartet of events identified occupy the European Tour’s strongest spots in the calendar and will form a remodelled Rolex Series where “global”  players such as McIlroy will be able to earn Race to Dubai and FedEx Cup points as well as Ryder Cup qualifying points.

The Telegraph also quoted a “European Tour insider” saying the “Americans are keen on promoting the Irish Open and Italian Open as well, because of those countries’ close ties with the States.”

The coronavirus pandemic saw both the Irish (which is, not insignificantly sponsored by Dubai Duty Free) and Italian Opens demoted from Rolex Series status in 2019 but are set to have their purses trebled to $3 million each for 2021 with PGA Tour assists with promotion and marketing, The Telegraph report said.

RELATED: Westwood and Fitzpatrick share the spoils in Dubai as a crazy year meets a fitting end

The post Report: Rory McIlroy to headline Abu Dhabi; DPWTC also identified as part of new ‘global’ tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Feinstein
On Sunday afternoon, while most Americans were watching football, an American golfer was pulling off a stunning feat. The golfer, though, wasn’t Bryson DeChambeau or Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods.

It was John Catlin, someone who even golf geeks know almost nothing about. Playing in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Catlin birdied three of his final four holes to shoot a final-round 64. A spectacular 3-wood on the par-5 18th from 268 yards set up the final two-putt birdie that allowed him to beat Englishman Aaron Rai by two shots.

Catlin, who turns 30 in November, has now won twice this month on the European Tour. On Labor Day weekend he won at Valderrama in Spain, arguably the most famous course on the European continent, and Sunday he won a tournament whose previous champions include names like Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sergio Garcia, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie and—more recently—Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.

Catlin became just the third American (and the first in 43 years) to win the title. Ben Crenshaw won it in 1976 and Hubert Green won it a year later, the same year he won the U.S. Open and finished third in the Open Championship.

Because Catlin’s win came on a late September Sunday, a lot more people were focused on how their local NFL team was doing or even on the last day of the Major League Baseball truncated regular season. Heck, even U.S. golf fans were more aware of Hudson Swafford’s one-stroke win at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship than Catlin’s victory.

Golf is a sport that is off the radar of many, if not most, general sports fans except when the game’s biggest events, most notably the four majors and the Ryder Cup, are taking place. The shame of this is that wonderful stories often go unnoticed or are glossed over, even by those of us who cover golf. No one is more guilty of pushing the importance of the major championships than I am. I’ve often said that winning one major is worth winning 10 regular tour events—at least. And the only players I know who disagree with that assessment are those who have won regular tour events but have never won a major.

That does not mean, however, that great stories don’t occur at non-majors. In fact, some of the most poignant stories happen on weeks when only we geeks are paying attention.

There was no better example of that than two Sundays ago when Stewart Cink won the Safeway Open. In 2009, at the age of 36, Cink won the Open Championship—the culmination of a career that had included five tour victories and four Ryder Cup appearances. Instead of becoming known to most of the public as a major champion, Cink became the guy who had beaten Tom Watson—denying him the chance to win a sixth claret jug at age 59.

Sean M. Haffey
Stewart Cink celebrates with the trophy and his son Reagan after winning the Safeway Open.

Cink handled it all with grace and humility, saying if he’d been watching the four-hole playoff from home, he would have been pulling for Watson. Until two weeks ago, he hadn’t won in more than 11 years since that day at Turnberry, a period of time in which he had endured the torture of watching his wife, Lisa, be diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in March 2016.

Lisa Cink is cancer-free now and her husband shot 65-65 on the weekend in the Napa Valley to hold a trophy for the first time since his win over Watson. Son Reagan was on the bag for Cink, and the family’s quiet victory celebration was about as poignant as you are likely to see anywhere in sports in this strange pandemic-dominated year.

But because the NFL season started that weekend and because the rescheduled U.S. Open was up next on the golf schedule, Cink’s victory was little noted beyond the golf websites. It wasn’t on network TV and there’s no doubt a lot more people were watching Tom Brady’s debut as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer than Cink’s two-shot win over Harry Higgs.

The thing is, Cink’s story might not have been nearly as glamorous, but it was one far more people should have been able to relate to than the golden boy making his debut in another uniform. Truth be told, Cink played a lot better than Brady that day.

Because golf is built around the four majors and the Ryder Cup, a lot of non-major stories are missed—certainly by the mainstream media.

Earlier this summer, Daniel Summerhays announced before the start of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Classic that he was going to retire at week’s end to coach golf at the high school he graduated from 28 years earlier. Summerhays never won on the PGA Tour, but he twice finished in the top 10 in majors (T-8 at the 2017 U.S. Open after getting in as fourth alternate and third at that year’s PGA). He won once on what was then the Nationwide Tour—as an amateur—and had a solid, though decidedly un-glamorous, career.

Matthew Stockman
Daniel Summerhays nearly won the Utah Championship in his home after announcing he was retiring to become a high school golf coach.

He decided to retire at a tournament near home, even though there wouldn’t be spectators at the event. Then, he almost wrote the script for a Disney movie, shooting 62 the last day to get into a playoff with Kyle Jones and Paul Haley II. Someone botched the ending, though, when Jones won the playoff. Even so, one could almost picture the freeze-frame-ending on that final green as Summerhays walked into the sunset.

Every year there are terrific stories that never make it out of golf’s insular world. Early in 2019, 31-year-old Adam Long arrived at what was then the Desert Classic with four PGA Tour starts to his credit—one cut made in those four starts. He somehow played his way into Sunday’s last group along with Adam Hadwin and Phil Mickelson, the tournament’s “host” and a darling of golf crowds everywhere, no more so than in the Coachella Valley.

With 80 percent of the crowd cheering lustily for Mickelson and the rest for Hadwin (fellow Canadians snow-birding in the desert), Long hung in all day. Finally, on the 18th hole, he drilled a 20-foot birdie putt to win, stunning Mickelson, Hadwin and almost every fan in attendance.

Keyur Khamar
Adam Long pumps his fist and celebrates his one stroke victory after making a winning birdie putt on the 18th hole green during the final round of the 2019 Desert Classic.

The win was life-changing for Long, who just missed the Tour Championship this year—finishing 31st on the points list—and had a two-shot lead Sunday at Puntacana, before a final-round 75 dropped him to fifth place.

There’s also the too-tough-to-believe-even-for-Disney story of Nate Lashley, who had very little status going into last year’s inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Lashley tried to Monday qualify for the tournament and just missed, finishing as the third alternate. He got into the field on Wednesday and then, at the age of 36, WON going from limited tour status to an exemption through the end of the 2020-’21 season. That’s not to mention the slightly more than $1.3 million he won to go with the silly-looking trophy someone handed him.

Catlin is just the latest example of a story worthy of our attention that will be largely overlooked. He was a three-time academic All-American at New Mexico and has taken the arduous journey in the direction of the PGA Tour that those who come out of college without star credentials often have to take.

Since turning pro in 2013, he has played on the PGA Tour Canada and then on the Asian Developmental Tour for two years. His breakthrough came in 2018 when he won three times on the Asian Tour to gain status to the European Tour. His post-COVID return to golf didn’t start very well this summer when he and his caddie, Nathan Mulrooney, went to a restaurant outside the tour’s bubble just prior to the start of the UK Swing in August.

Catlin, who had only limited status on the European Tour, was banned from the tournament, apologized and then came back to win at Valderrama a month later. His victory in Ireland moved him to 14th place in the Road to Dubai standings and 84th in the Official World Golf Rankings.

If Catlin can stay hot and reach the top 50, he will suddenly be eligible for the majors and for World Golf Championship events. Someone named Brooks Koepka followed a similar path six years ago. If Catlin can continue in those footsteps, he might get noticed someday. Maybe.

The post There are stirring golf triumphs to celebrate, even when they fly under the radar appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Three weeks ago, en route to his maiden European Tour victory in the Andalucia Masters, John Catlin led wire-to-wire at Valderrama. Second time round though, things were a bit different for the 29-year-old American. With just five holes to play in the final round of the Irish Open at the Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort, finishing first appeared unlikely. Having just made what would prove to be his only bogey of the final round, Catlin stood on the 14th tee seven under par, trailing Jazz Janewattananond by two shots and overnight leader Aaron Rai by one.

Not for long though.

Three holes later, Rai was still eight under par, Janewattananond had subsided to six under (courtesy of a double bogey at the short 14th and another dropped shot at the 16th) and Catlin had soared to nine under and a one-stroke advantage. Indeed, birdies at the 15th and 16th were only the start. With a 3-wood from 268 yards on the final hole, Catlin found the distant green and two-putted to put one last red figure on his scorecard and complete a final-round 64. Only Fabrizio Zanotti’s closing 63 was lower in a week marred by fog and frost delays.

Ten under par was the target, with Rai the only realistic challenger. The 25-year-old Englishman, who wears a glove on each hand for every full shot, needed birdies at each of the last two holes to force a playoff.

The 2018 Hong Kong Open winner got halfway to his target when a beautiful approach shot to the 457-yard 17th set up the needed birdie. But after a drive rifled up the middle on the 18th, Rai pulled his second shot into an evil lie in heavy rough left of the green. Two hacks and two putts later, he was no better than eight under par, although, by way of consolation, still alone in second place. Janewattananond tied for third alongside Australia’s Maverick Antcliff.

“It’s hard to describe how special this feels,” said Catlin, the first American winner of this historic title, first played for in 1927, since Hubert Green in 1977 and the third overall (Ben Crenshaw was the other in 1976). “That’s incredible company to be in. It’s an honour to have my name on the trophy with those great players and the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam. Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo. So much hard work during lockdown has gone into this moment. It was my goal to win again at the start of the week, so to achieve that is truly special. With five holes to play, I kinda had nothing to lose. I was going after every flag and was able to hit a couple in there close.”

The 3-wood on the 18th was the best of them though, a shot that clinched the €196,690 first prize, a place in the top-20 on the Race to Dubai and, most likely, a first-time spot inside the world’s top-100 golfers. He is thus one big performance away from the top-50 and automatic places in the four majors, a long-held ambition and, for Catlin, “the only level of golf I haven’t played at.”

“That shot was so satisfying,” continued Catlin, a three-time academic All-American during his time at the University of New Mexico. “It was 268 yards to the hole. It was cold and it was damp out there. I needed to hit a big high draw, a shot I know I can hit. But to do it in those conditions and in that situation is hard to put into words. Winning at Valderrama has given me massive confidence. You never know if you are going to win, but winning there has freed me up. I can look myself in the mirror and tell myself honestly that, having won once, I can do it again.”

And so he has.

The post John Catlin becomes just the third American to win the Irish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By The Editors
It was Moving Day on Saturday at the Irish Open, and Englishman Aaron Rai produced among the strongest rounds on the tough Galgorm Spa course in shooting three-under 67 to own the solo lead at eight under.

But that was far from the most eye-catching development of the day. Ballymena, an inland Northern Ireland town of 29,000, 27 miles north of Belfast, is green, rural and dotted with plenty of farms. Indeed, the hometown of actor Liam Neeson once hosted Ireland’s largest agricultural fair. Otherwise, Galgorm Spa and its course are the biggest visitor attraction.

There happens to a farm near the golf course, and that’s where one of the year’s greatest video and photo opportunities happened. With the European Tour closing events to spectators due to the coronavirus, a couple set up chairs outside a fence beside the 14th hole, presumably on their own property, packed some snacks and drinks, and then were joined by more than a dozen “friends.” A herd of cows, acting almost like a pack of happy dogs and trying to mooch the food, surrounded them. Comically, the couple sat blithely there as if there were butterflies in their midst and not tons of livestock.

Mooving day at the @DDFIrishOpen ?#DDFIrishOpen pic.twitter.com/qJPj8F4uxp

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 26, 2020

“Isn’t that a fantastic picture?” one of the television commentators said. “Autograph that somebody quickly; that’s brilliant.”

Word was that they were going to play this tournament until the cows come home.

Have we milked this enough?

The post Holy cow! It’s a different kind of Moo-ving Day in the Irish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

While the event is being staged sans spectators, it remains one of the tour’s blue-chip tournaments and a must-watch for golf fans around the globe.

RELATED: Padraig Harrington and his caddie teamed up to move one of the largest loose impediments in golf history

South Africa’s Dean Burmester and Englishmen Jordan Smith and Aaron Rai share the first-round lead in County Antrim after carding five-under 65s on Thursday. To help our loyal audience enjoy the event even more, we’ve teamed with our Golf Digest colleagues in Ireland to bring you the official 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open programme FREE!  (Click on the highlighted link left or directly on the cover below).

If you’re a collector of golf memorabilia, this is a historic keepsake given the age in which golf finds itself. Even if you aren’t, there are some interesting interviews worthy of a look, including a chat with 2009 Irish Open winner and reigning Open champion Shane Lowry. Enjoy.

Let’s take a trip to Northern Ireland

Check out some of the first round highlights from the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in this @TaylorMadeGolf Golf Central Update. pic.twitter.com/KHDtU20bs4

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) September 24, 2020

The post Get the official Dubai Duty Free Irish Open programme here FREE! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But don’t worry, you’re not alone in feeling the Ryder Cup blues. Padraig Harrington, the European Ryder Cup team captain, is feeling the pain too. Harrington told Golf Digest’s John Huggan that he had recently checked the forecast for Wisconsin this week, and it’s expected to be 70 degrees (21c) and sunny. Man, that’s painful to type out.

Fortunately, the three-time major winner had an A+ backup plan for this week: The Irish Open. The event, which Harrington won in 2007, marks just his sixth worldwide start of 2020. Of the previous five starts, the 49-year-old made just one cut.

There’s still a ways to go, but the Irishman could be in line for his second made cut of the year at Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Northern Ireland. He’s one over after the opening, six off the current lead. The highlight of the day, aside from the three birdies, had to be this moment with Harrington and his caddie Ronan Flood. Watch as these two team up to remove one of the largest loose impediments in golf history:

Pádraig Harrington moves a dead tree from behind his ball ? @padraig_h #DDFIrishOpen pic.twitter.com/AFukpoxTCZ

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 24, 2020

For those wondering if this is legal, it is. A broken tree branch is considered a loose impediment, not unlike that rock Tiger Woods had fans move at TPC Scottsdale at the 1999 Phoenix Open:

The only difference here is that Padraig wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and do some literal heavy lifting. Incredibly impressive and maybe even reckless considering he said he’s not feeling 100 percent physicially and has “pushed his body a bit too far” by hitting so many golf balls. Much respect to the soon-to-be 50-year-old.

Let’s take a trip to Northern Ireland

Check out some of the first round highlights from the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in this @TaylorMadeGolf Golf Central Update. pic.twitter.com/KHDtU20bs4

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) September 24, 2020

The post Padraig Harrington and his caddie teamed up to move one of the largest loose impediments in golf history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
He should be in Northern Wisconsin. But instead Padraig Harrington is making do with Northern Ireland. Making his first competitive appearance since March’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain is in County Antrim, at the Galgorm Spa and Golf Resort for the European Tour’s Irish Open. Physically anyway. Understandably, however, Harrington’s mind was wandering—if only a little—a few thousand miles west to Whistling Straits, where the biennial contest between Europe and the United States was originally scheduled to be played this week.

In fact, since the July 8 announcement that the match had been postponed until next September, the three-time major champion owned up to not giving the whole thing much thought at all. Although he did admit to checking the weather forecast for Sheboygan (sunny and 70 degrees all week) and delving into the hypothetical. Understandable curiosity led him to identify who would have made the team via qualifying and who he might then have picked to round out his 12-man lineup. Not that he was giving anything away on that front.

“No one could have predicted any of this,” Harrington said. “But I came to terms with it a while back. In March/April we were working hard behind the scenes to try and get all the alternatives ready for what could have been. But by the time we reached the middle of May, I could see it wasn’t going to happen. There were so many complications behind the scenes, one option me being given 12 picks. But had I been handed eight, there would have been 732,000 combinations if choosing that many guys from 24. So when the match was actually postponed it was actually a relief.”

As for his own golf, Harrington was quick to play down any chance of him adding a second Irish Open victory to his 2007 triumph. For one thing, he isn’t 100 percent physically—“I’ve hit a lot of balls and pushed my body a bit too far”—and for another, after so long away from the game, he professed to be unsure of what to expect on a course that sounds a lot like last week’s U.S. Open, at least in terms of setup. In yesterday’s pro-am, Harrington winner of 31 events worldwide during his career, confessed to losing a ball in the long rough on each of his first three holes.

“I’m just not ready,” he said. “You never would be in your first event, but I’m going to give it a shot. Go out there and play, no expectations.”

In the longer term, however, Harrington remains optimistic regarding his prospects. He will turn 50 three weeks before the rescheduled Ryder Cup next year, but he retains one last ambition with regard to the European Tour, where he has won 15 times. He has an eye on becoming the oldest champion on the Old World circuit, a record (50 years and 133 days) currently held by Miguel Angel Jimenez.

“I like to think I’ll remain competitive for a few years yet,” said Harrington, who make his 26th consecutive appearance in his national Open but his first start in front of no spectators. “I won’t be one who turns up just to miss the cut. I hit the ball farther than I have ever done. So I’m not giving up too much too the young lads out here. Being the oldest winner on tour is a nice goal for me.”

Inevitably too, Harrington was asked about what he had witnessed at Winged Foot. There in 2006, the Irishman made bogey each of the last three holes to finish two shots behind eventual champion Geoff Ogilvy. As ever, Harrington had a view, and a “solution” to what many see as a problem in the elite game going forward, pointing out that Bryson DeChambeau won’t play as well as he did in becoming U.S. Open champion every week.

“The leading players, those who are winning majors, nearly always have an advantage off the tee,” he said. “So it is nothing new what Bryson is doing. Plus, I’m sure Rory [McIlroy] hit as many drives as Bryson did last week. So, while what he did is a big change in the minds of people, if you haven’t seen this coming you’re blind. It’s what Rory did, what Dustin Johnson did, what Tiger [Woods] did, what Greg Norman did and what Jack [Nicklaus] did. To play this game as well as they did you have to great off the tee. It’s always been that way. And 10 years from now, guys like Bryson will be a dime a dozen. Right now, he is running the 100 meters at maybe 12 seconds. So he’s still got 20-percent more in the tank.”

As for trying to keep him from going to far, Harrington had thoughts there, too. “They have definitely gone down the wrong road in building courses to compete with these guys,” he said. “If you want to build a course that suits straight-hitter, you have to build one where they can hit 54 fairways out of 54. That’s where their advantage will come from. Last week, even the straight hitters couldn’t hit the fairways. Instead, what you need are firm, fast greens and short, ‘flier’ rough. But the last thing any of us wants to play is a ‘tricked-up’ course. Putting pins on slopes is no fun for anybody.”

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