Harrington, now 52, is often used as the prime example of a player who has benefitted most from the modern golf ball going so far. The Irishman ranked first on the PGA Tour Champions last season with an average driving distance of 302.4 yards. Twenty years ago, in the prime of his career, Harrington averaged just 290.8.

While the ball, and modern clubs, certainly play a role in his incredible gains, Harrington has also worked tirelessly with Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher Michael Jacobs to gain maximum speed. I wondered if Harrington took offense to the narrative that he hits it so much farther now at 52 just because of the ball and not because of the hours he’s put in to get to where he is now. An opportunity arose on Wednesday at the PNC Championship to ask him that very question.

In the most on-brand move ever, Harrington then proceeded to rant for seven consecutive minutes, and I’m not sure if he ever answered the original question.

“The one thing about the rollback is it’s distinctly different—the attitude in the United States than the attitude, certainly in Ireland and the rest of Europe,” Harrington said. “You guys hate the USGA. We actually love the R&A. Golf isn’t an exclusive game in Europe. Some golf courses, we have the whole gambit. The majority of golf courses in Ireland are just regular member’s golfer courses. Yes, you need to be rich to play golf — rich in time. The people who play golf in Ireland are people who have time. Taxi drivers, policemen, anybody on shift work, and obviously people who are wealthy enough that they can make some spare time, but everybody plays in Ireland. And we all know a golf course that we grew up on that has had to change its golf holes, move part of the course, actually move the whole golf course at times because the ball is just going too far.

“And it’s not 98 percent of golfers. It’s the one percent of amateurs, the young adults that we want to play the game, they can hit it,” he continued. “And when they miss, they miss big. It goes off the golf course, it pitches in the middle of other fairways. It’s dangerous. They can’t get insurance, they have to change the holes. So, I know there is a bit of pain involved for the majority, but it’s for the greater good of the game. And to be honest, five percent was soft. Ten percent would have been a fair hit, but five percent is really drawing a line in the sand. It’s just saying, in five year’s time, we’ll have eaten that five percent up anyway. It’s a line in the sand that says if it starts creeping again, we’re going to roll it back again.”

Harrington then proceeded to make the sustainability argument, saying that in the U.S. we have far more land to work with than in countries like Ireland. His local course in Dublin, Grange Golf Club, opens with a par 3 that once took a 3-wood to find the green. Now, Harrington says, it’s a sand wedge.

“That’s a constant theme, so it’s very important for the rest of the world to roll it back. I’m sorry you guys in the U.S. feel that way. There is that attitude in the U.S. that the USGA is representing the very exclusive, old school courses. That’s not the case,” he said. “They are representing everybody, and I guarantee you the R&A, people have a much better view of them. They’re just trying to make the game grow for everyone.”

As for taking offense to folks saying Harrington hits it so long at 52 now because of the golf ball, he believes they are wrong to use him as an example.

“I don’t worry about me,” Harrington said. “I’m actually in the same place — I was a long hitter, but not as long as the biggest hitters. The biggest hitters didn’t play when I played. Now they do, and I’m still in the same place, I’m a long hitter but I’m not quite as long as the really long guys. Some of those really long guys are better players now, and I think there’s more of them too.

“The problem the game has is what’s coming. Everyone says, ‘oh, look at Cameron Champ, it’s amazing.’ There’s loads of these guys, and faster, in college. They’re all over, and I’m not saying they’re players, but eventually we’re going to get a guy with 210-mph ball speed who is able to play. Up to now anybody who has got to that speed just can’t play golf, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to get one. Like Tiger, he came out and he was a 190-mph ball speed guy — not that we hadn’t seen 190 ball speed before, we just hadn’t seen a 190 ball speed who could play golf.”

As another example, Harrington used Hank Kuehne, who averaged 321 yards off the tee all the way back in 2003. Harrington believes the world convinced Kuehne that he was wrong, that if he hit it in trouble as a long hitter it was because he hit driver. Then, Harrington says, a player named Rory McIlroy came along and changed everyone’s way of thinking.

“He [McIlroy] just hit driver, and all of a sudden the other long hitters, I’m talking DJ [Dustin Johnson], I’m talking Bubba [Bubba Watson], J.B. Holmes, they were big hitters at the time, Gary Woodland. They all changed their style of golf once they saw Rory change. I played with DJ his first ever [Players Championship] at TPC Sawgrass. He got in as a late alternate, and we’re on the tee and this kid, I had no idea who he was and he had an iron in his hand and we’re kind of like ‘oh, look at this lad, he’s nervous isn’t he.’ And then you see this iron coming out and you go, woah, that’s a bit different. There’s not a chance in the world that DJ would tee it up with an iron at TPC Sawgrass now, he’s hitting driver. That’s how much the game has changed.”

Ultimately, Harrington says, we’re going to see a player who is cruising between 135 and 140-mph clubhead speed who will be able to play. The rollback should be able to hold everything in place as is, but it won’t be able to stop the young guys coming. Harrington believes we haven’t even come close to the maximum physical capability, hence why the rollback is necessary.

He then closed with an unbelievably bold prediction.

“You know what the biggest change is going to be?” he asked. “I’m going to say it here — it’s going to be the ladies game. They hit too many fairways now, so there is a huge advantage going forward for somebody who comes out there with 175-mph ball speed. There is going to be a lady coming out with 175 ball speed who can be a real competitor, and guess what? She’s going to be able to play with the men, and compete.”

To hear Harrington’s full take, watch the video below:

I asked @padraig_h for his ‘quick’ rollback take. He then spoke for 7 consecutive minutes without coming up for air.

I promise it’s worth your time, especially if you stick around for the very end when he makes an incredibly bold prediction for the future of golf pic.twitter.com/czH17T6i85

— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) December 14, 2023

Main Image: Sam Greenwood

The post I asked Padraig Harrington for his ‘quick’ rollback take. He proceeded to speak for seven minutes straight appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Senior Open returns to Royal Porthcawl in Wales for a third time this week and several stars have spoken to the European Tour website about the challenge the historic Welsh links course poses.

Europe’s only Senior Major Championship is back at the venue following memorable events in 2014 and 2017 in which Germany’s Bernhard Langer won on both occasions.

When Royal Porthcawl hosted its first Senior Open in 2014, two-time Masters Champion Langer stormed to a wire-to-wire victory as he finished 13 shots ahead of runner-up Colin Montgomerie — a record margin that still stands.

Royal Porthcawl, which offers stunning views across Swansea Bay to the Gower Peninsula and offers a true test of golf, has hosted The Amateur Championship and the Walker Cup.

Once again the members’ 18th hole will be used as the first this week, but what are players making of the test?

Bernhard Langer. European Tour

Two-time Masters Champion Langer admitted both his triumphs were achieved in vastly different conditions and the German believes mentality will again be vital if he is to win his 13th senior Major title and fifth at this event.

“It is a typical links course and a very demanding one,” he told EuropeanTour.com. “The last two times we have played here were totally opposite. One time it was bone dry, the ball was running 100 yards — that was a challenge in itself because you couldn’t stop it.

“The second time we played it the rain came sideways, the wind was howling, and it was wet and miserable. But I am used to making the best of it. It seems to bring the best out of me.”

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good golf course.”

Colin Montgomerie. Getty Images

Colin Montgomerie, one of many European greats of the game in the field, believes Royal Porthcawl ranks highly among the best UK links courses.

The Scot revealed how new fairway bunkering since it last played host in 2017 will provide an even greater complexity.

“The greens have got a lot of undulation to them,” he said. “Most links greens don’t, the trouble is really off the tee with most links courses but here it is actually everything.

“They have put in a number of new fairway bunkers in the last five or six years since we were last year and it has made it much tighter off the tee.

“You will see a lot of people having to think more on their tee shots rather than just hit a driver aimlessly and try to find it.

“Now there are bunkers in the way and you know with links golf — Brian Harman proved it at The Open — if you stay out of the bunkers, drive the ball well you can score.

“You can always move it forward from the rough but you can’t move it forward from the bunkers, you have to come out sideways.

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good hole and golf course overall.”

Royal Porthcawl boasts a stunning setting sloping down to the seashore, with impressive views of the coastline from every hole.

Ian Woosnam. European Tour

The second to fourth holes can play particularly difficult when played into a freshening wind, something Ian Woosnam attests to as he highlighted the challenge of approach shots onto undulating greens.

“If the wind is off the left playing those first few holes, trying to get it on the green is a challenge,” he said. “You have got to try and hug the right hand side to get a better shot into the green.

“Once you get on the green it is hard to get it close and you have got to try and two putt.”

Padraig Harrington. Jared C. Tilton

But it isn’t just the greens that Pádraig Harrington is focusing on as he targets a strong performance off the tee in his bid to complete The Open-Senior Open double.

“The course is well designed,” the 15-time DP World Tour winner said. “There is a staggering number of bunkers. You can take some trouble out but you can’t take it all out. Avoiding trouble off the tee will be my goal for the week.

“Sometimes I will play cautious, sometimes I will play a little more aggressive. If I can avoid those bunkers and any of the major trouble I think that will set me up enough.

“The greens are difficult, there are slopes, but if I hit it straight you will create so many opportunities that you will overcome the odd lack of knowledge or the odd mistake around the greens.”

Darren Clarke. Mark Runnacles

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke is this week’s defending champion having won his first Senior Major at Gleneagles last summer.

On his first return to Royal Porthcawl since the 1988 European Team Amateur Championships, the 2011 Open Champion is excited and alert in equal measure of its challenges.

“Conditions-wise, holes, everything, it’s pristine,” he said. “But no, there are some very strategic bunkers positioned out there.

“Sometime you’ve got to play in between bunkers, carry one and not reach the next one.

“And then obviously with the contours on the greens, there are a few you’ve got to miss in the right place.

“The wind is going to get up a little stronger and that’s fine.”

The post The Senior Open: What the players are saying about Royal Porthcawl appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Padraig Harrington was an ever-present member of six European Ryder Cup teams between 1999 and 2010. He was an assistant captain three times, to his close friend, Paul McGinley, at Gleneagles in 2014, to another Irishman, Darren Clarke, in 2016 at Hazeltine National and two years later to Thomas Bjorn at Le Golf National. Having served that lengthy apprenticeship, Harrington was in charge as non-playing skipper at Whistling Straits last time out.

So, one might think, he has served his time as far as the biennial gunfight between the United States and Europe is concerned.

Not so fast though.

At the conclusion of his second-round 66 in the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club (where he serves as a design consultant), Harrington opened up about his desire to at least explore the possibility of one more Ryder Cup appearance as a player. While unusual, such a move from backroom to frontline is not unprecedented. U.S. captain in 1989, Ray Floyd played twice more, in 1991 and 1993.

Anyway, at least in Harrington’s mind, any possibility of the 51-year-old teeing up at the Marco Simone Country Club in Italy for European captain Luke Donald at the end of September will be determined by how he performs over the rest of the Scottish Open and at next week’s Open Championship at Hoylake (where he has missed the cut in each of the two Opens he has played there).

Luke Donald was an assistant captain for Padraig Harrington in 2021 at Whistling Straits. The two have talked about Harrington behind a dark-horse pick for the 2023 European team. Andrew Redington

“I’ve got these two events,” he said. “I’ll see where I am at the end of the Open. I’ll talk to Luke and see where I stand and if necessary I’ll change my schedule and come and play over here. I’m meant to be playing a few senior events in the middle of the summer. But I will change that and play European Tour events if I have a genuine chance. If it’s real.

“Luke rang me a couple of weeks ago,” continued Harrington. “He was actually on to congratulate me for my [Champions Tour] win. But he also said that it would be remiss of him to say he wasn’t watching. I told him we would talk again after the Open. He asked about my schedule. I said it will be very clear: How I play in Scotland and at the Open will determine everything. If I don’t have good weeks, it won’t be enough. I only play a few events, so that puts me under a fair bit of pressure coming in here. I know if I don’t perform well over these two weeks, that’s the end of that.”

Of course, Harrington being Harrington, he wasn’t finished. Not yet. He had more to offer on the subject of the Ryder Cup, in which he has amassed 10½ points from his 25 career matches. Most of all, he was at pains to point out that he is far from a certainty to make what would be something not far short of a sensational return.

“The [European] team looks good,” he said. “I have to say that. The good players are playing well. The young guys are coming through. And older guys like Justin [Rose] have come back into form. I don’t think they are scrambling to need me in the team. They are very solid. … It’s nice to have experience, but they are not crying out for it. I don’t want to talk myself out if it, but they’re not desperate to have me in the team.”

As for how Donald should be judging Harrington, he’s the first to acknowledge that his success on the PGA Tour Champions likely should not be taken into account. “It’s different golf. I should be judged on how I play in DP World Tour and PGA Tour events. That’s it,” Harrington said. “I’ve seen some nice form and I’m gradually getting better and better. All the way back to Abu Dhabi. I played well there but that was a good round with my back to the wall. This week has been better in terms of being stress-free. I like what I see this week.”

Then there is next week. His record at Royal Liverpool may be less than distinguished, but Harrington has two claret jugs sitting in his living room at his home near Dublin. He wasn’t saying so out loud, but there were enough hints in his 19-minute-long huddle with the media to suggest the thought of adding a third has not crossed his active mind.

“If I turned up and played the Senior Players Championship this week, I’d be telling you I know I can’t win the Open,” he said. “I know I have to be here playing links golf if I want to challenge in the Open. I still think I’m a serious player. I’m seeing good things. If I never hit the ball as well as I have the last two days, I’d be very happy. I wouldn’t change a thing from the last two days. All that means is I need the right break or hole the right putt to be right there in contention with a chance any week.”

The post An outside-the-box Ryder Cup pick? Padraig Harrington is spending the next two weeks making his case appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Fifty-four-hole events tend to be a sprint to the finish line anyway, but Padraig Harrington’s furious back-nine kick was an extraordinary display of Sunday pressure golf that propelled him to a one-stroke victory in Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Harrington, 51, the defending champion, trailed leader Joe Durant by three at En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, N.Y., then played a six-hole stretch in seven under par, completing a round of nine-under 63 to record his fifth PGA Tour Champions victory and first of the year.

“It was amazing, it was a bad hole that kicked that. I got and down from 31 yards out of a bunker, holed an eight-footer and it went from feeling like everything was going against you, to, oh, that’s not so bad,” Harrington said. “Obviously I wasn’t thinking about winning at that stage, I was thinking about just trying to make as many birdies.

“When I started making them, then I started thinking about [winning] when I got, I suppose, three or four of them. But it was a bonus obviously to make eagle. And when I had about a six-footer on 17, it’s amazing when you’re holing putts. I could have closed my eyes, turned my back and I would have holed the putts on 17.”

Durant, 59, was in pursuit of his first senior victory in more than three years and seemed in command, playing the first 12 holes in six under par. But he parred out for a final-round six-under 66 that left him one stroke short.

Harrington started his incredible run at the 12th hole. He made four straight birdies, followed by an eagle two at 16 and another birdie at 17 before closing with a par.

On the eve of the tournament, he was cautiously optimistic, coming off two quality starts, a playoff loss to Steve Stricker in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and a tie for 27th in the U.S. Open last week at Los Angeles Country Club.

“I feel good about my game,” he said. “Sometimes I try and get better for down the road instead of being focused on the tournament at hand. But that’s the burden I have, I suppose, all the time. I’m always trying to get better and better, which can hold you back in the short term for sure.

“My goal is to try and get my head in the game. I finished my practice now so my head better be in the game now, but even if it’s not quite there tomorrow, as long as it’s there for the last nine holes on Sunday that would be OK.”

It exceeded OK, this seven-under 28 to close. In fact, he played his last 10 holes in eight under par.

The post Padraig Harrington’s furious back-nine rally carries him to second straight Dick’s Sporting Goods Open victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

As another major championship was slipping away from Rory McIlroy on Sunday afternoon, Padraig Harrington winced at the thought of what his fellow Irishman would likely encounter in the aftermath.

“You’re going to hang him if he doesn’t win,” Harrington said figuratively of the potential reaction by the media. The 51-year-old had just completed a three-over-par 73 at Los Angeles Country Club to finish a respectable two-over 282, good for T-27 in the 123rd US Open.

“There’s nobody watching this golf tournament that doesn’t think this is not Rory’s to win. He has put himself out there and the pressure will be on him [down the stretch]. No doubt about it. Now, there’s massive pressure on [Wyndham] Clark because he’s not used to it. It’s a two-horse race, and I’m sure everybody expects Rory to get across the line.”

Harrington, who defends his US Senior Open title this week at Sentry World in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, was speaking as McIlroy was playing the 13th hole at LACC North. But not 20 minutes later, McIlroy bogeyed the par-5 14th hole, while Clark birdied it to turn a one-stroke lead into a three-stroke advantage. In the end, Clark bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes, but pars on 17 and 18 gave him a closing 70 that allowed him to beat McIlroy by one shot after Rory posted a 70 of his own.

McIlroy has gone nearly nine years since he won the last of his four major titles at the 2014 PGA Championship. Last year, a closing 64 at Augusta National Golf Club lifted McIlroy to a second-place finish behind Scottie Scheffler in the Masters, but then he had excellent chances in the year’s final three majors, none better than at the Open Championship at St Andrews, where he held a share of the 54-hole lead. Cam Smith blazed past him, however, the final day with a 64 while McIlroy was stuck in neutral, unable to get key putts to drop as he ended up third.

A replay of that round unfolded on Sunday at LACC, with McIlroy, the No. 3 player in the world and the 2011 US Open winner, making birdie on the par-5 first hole to tie third-round co-leaders Clark and Rickie Fowler at 10-under. But again his putter betrayed him as he gave himself numerous scoring chances only to come up empty.

Harrington, a three-time major champion, said whatever would unfold the rest of the day, McIlroy would have to come to terms with another tough defeat despite being in contention. Winning requires dealing with the more gut-wrenching setbacks.

“Yes, he has put his neck on the line again for sure. But that’s what you’ve got to do if you want to win these things,” Harrington said. “You don’t win ’em from shooting 65 to finish third on a Sunday. You win by being close to the lead and grinding out a 70 or 69 or 68 or whatever it takes. That’s where he’s at and that’s what he has to do.”

The post US Open 2023: Padraig Harrington laments criticism Rory McIlroy will take for failing to ‘get across the line’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

If you’re going to get hit by a major champ’s golf shot, you could do much worse than Padraig Harrington.

The future World Golf Hall of Fame inductee was quite generous — despite being in the hunt for a second senior major title — after an errant tee shot struck a patron on Fields Ranch East’s par-4 16th. Battling back and forth with fellow golf great Steve Stricker for the Senior PGA Championship, Harrington’s shot sailed left of the fairway hitting a fan on the top of the head. By the time Harrington made it over to him, the injured man had a compress on his head and was about to be taken away in a cart.

Harrington went to sign a golf glove for the man, as one does, but decided this wasn’t enough for his troubles. It was time to take the wallet out.

A kind gesture by Padraig Harrington after striking a fan with his drive on the 16th. ?

?: #SrPGAChamp on @NBC and @peacock pic.twitter.com/KHMUioFqEA

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 28, 2023

“Thank you very much. You got it going in the right direction,” Harrington said. And then the man replied: “I was trying to get you back closer to the fairway there … Good luck, the rest of the way.”

Such a cordial exchange and a head injury deserves much more than a glove, at least according to Harrington.

“I bought him a dinner,” Harrington said after the event. “He nutted my ball back to the fairway. So, yeah, like, you give him a glove, but it never really seems adequate to give a guy a glove. He’s a grown man, like what’s he want with a glove with my signature?

“So I thought — he said his wife was inside — but, please take your wife out for dinner on me was the sort of thing. I don’t know, I hope I gave him enough for dinner.”

Despite the goodwill and positive vibes, the Irishman couldn’t hold on to the victory ultimately losing to Stricker in a playoff. $380,000 in second-place prize money will more than make up for that $300 loss though.

The post WATCH: Padraig Harrington drills spectator with tee shot, gives him wad of $50s to make up for it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The inaugural championship played at the new PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas, was at a minimum a dramatic success, a duel between opposing Ryder Cup captains that ultimately reinforced the fact that these days Stricker owns the PGA Tour Champions.

Stricker, 56, won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship with a par on the first playoff hole at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, his second straight major championship victory and third win in nine senior starts this season. A bonus was that he won with his daughter Izzi, 17, caddying for him for the first time, as a birthday present.

“It was a battle,” Stricker said. “The course showed some teeth at times today. Some difficult pins. Some easy pins. But it was a little crustier on the greens. The wind was tricky at times. Yeah, but it feels great. It feels great not only to do it [but to] have Izzi on the bag was even more special. We had a great time this week and that was the goal, just to come here and have a good time with her, and to throw a win on top of it is even icing on the cake.”

Padraig Harrington, who captained the European Ryder Cup team in a loss to Stricker’s American team at Whistling Straits in 2021, was attempting to win the Senior PGA wire-to-wire and took a one-stroke lead into the final round. He surrendered his lead to Stricker on the 11th hole, but pulled even with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole to send it to overtime.

On the playoff hole, Harrington sliced his drive into a penalty area, attempted to slash his ball out with his second shot and left in the penalty area, took a drop, then hit a 5-wood fourth shot from 272 yards to 12 feet of the hole. Stricker, meanwhile, played a 3-wood off the tee, a lay-up second shot, a poor wedge to the green and took two putts for par.

Moments later, Harrington missed his par putt, allowing Stricker to win his 14th senior event, six of them majors. His final round of three-under 69 gave him a 72-hole score of 18-under 270, while Harrington closed with a two-under 70.

“I’ll be disappointed with the tee shot and the second shot,” Harrington said of the playoff hole. “But if I hole the [par] putt we could say it [his 5-wood fourth] was one of the best shots I ever hit. The fact that I didn’t hole the putt, we’ll forget about it. Golf is cruel.”

It certainly can be, and Stricker was prepared to endure his own share of cruelty. “He [Harrington] had a legitimate look at it. And it was kind of the same putt that Stewart Cink had in regulation that he made for eagle,” Stricker said. “So, yeah, I told Izzi, I’m like: ‘Well, we got to expect him to make this and we’re going to go again.’ But, yeah, tough putt, just trying to die it down there and luckily we came out on top.”

The post Steve Stricker wins second straight senior major, this time with teenage daughter Izzi as caddie appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Happily, Harrington was at his thought-provoking best over the course of a half-hour chat two days before he tees-up in this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. This will be Harrington’s 467th DP World Tour start, the first of five “young guys” events the US Senior Open champion is using as preparation for the PGA Tour Champions campaign to come. As ever, his responses to any and all questions travelled far and wide, his stream of consciousness providing a fascinating insight into one of the game’s most active minds.

At the age of 51, what is motivating you these days?
My motivation hasn’t changed. It’s the same as always: to win. If I win now, I’ll be the oldest guy ever to win on the European Tour. If I win a major, I’d be the oldest guy ever to win a major. That would be significant. Winning in Europe would be, too, but winning a major would be bigger.
I was playing well before I turned 50. But the Champions Tour has sharpened my game no end. Mentally that is. All the way through the bag, from driving to short game. Which is not to say I didn’t reach a point in my career when the game became hard. This is starting to change, but every golfer, and I might be among the last of them, gets 20 years of competitive play. You have a few years of building, a dozen years where you are really competitive, then maybe three or four on the end where, although the public wouldn’t know, you are there but not really there. You get 20 years before you burn out.
I was definitely burnt out around 2016. But even then I believe that every player gets an “extra” tournament. Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters when he was basically retired. Maybe mine was the Honda Classic I won in 2015. I’m hoping that’s not the case though. I was worried in 2008 when I was up against Greg Norman in the final round of the Open. I was worried that the golfing gods were going to give Greg one more win. It’s amazing, but the great players nearly all get one more chance late on in their careers.
Every player also gets about 18 months at their absolute peak. That’s every player. One might make the Ryder Cup team. Another might move up 50 places in the rankings. And another might win a major. Or get to No. 1. In my case, at least in terms of my performance, my 18 months spanned 2007 and 2008. But I know I played better golf in 2009 and 2010, although I didn’t win a major.

OK, let’s say your peak is 10-out-of-10. Where are you now?
Physically I’m capable. I’m long enough. I’m sharp because I was in contention so often on the Champions Tour in 2022. Early last year I played in regular tour events and finished between 15th and 20th. People were congratulating me. That was frustrating. I wasn’t there to finish 20th. It meant I was usually between six and eight shots behind the winner. And the only way to bridge the gap is to hit the ball better. You have to make your technique better.
So here’s the difference between then and now. On the Champions Tour, I know I’m going to be in contention with nine holes to play. If I haven’t had a great week, I might need a big last nine holes. If I’ve had a great week, I’m ahead. But either way I’m in with a chance. So at the end of every week, I sit back and bemoan one tee-shot or one putt. It’s not a question of me thinking I’m not good enough. It’s always, I slipped up somewhere. And the reason is always mental.
When you are two shots off the lead, the reason you didn’t win is mental. When you are six shots off the pace, the reason is physical. So I’ve had a lot of weeks where I’ve thought any issue has to be mental, which was also the case around 2006. By that time I was going into events preparing for Sunday, not Thursday. I knew I was going to be in contention so I wanted to be as mentally strong as I could be.
I would be in tournaments back then and never look around. It would be wrong of me to say I didn’t take a sneaky look to see where Tiger was. I’d be hoping that my good week didn’t coincide with his. But besides that, I felt like I was good enough to win on my own. I didn’t need help from anyone else. I didn’t need any breaks.

So the PGA Tour Champions has made you a better player at 51 than you were at, say, 45?
I’m saying that going to the Champions Tour showed me something I was talking about but not actually doing. The only reason I wasn’t winning was myself. It wasn’t physical. I wasn’t doing the right stuff mentally. But I was paying lip service to what I thought I was doing.
Last year I competed in a few regular tour events. I was playing well going into those, but I panicked. I went into a couple of major thinking I was playing well. I’m not here this week thinking that, if I don’t win, I’m not what I think I am. I’m giving myself time by playing five young guys events early this year. So if I finish 10th will I chase my tail trying to get a win on the regular tour? Or will I go back to the Champions Tour?
Burning out to me is trying too hard. But that’s my nature. Now I know I can’t go at the same pace in the gym or on the range. I just can’t. The eye-opener for me was missing the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2016. I came home and played in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and England. Five events. All my Irish friends were playing in those, too. So I was out for dinner every night and had a whale of a time. I had so much fun and enjoyed the lifestyle, even though my golf was no better.
I realised then that, if I was going to continue playing, I couldn’t be the old Padraig Harrington. If the lads had told him they were going to dinner at 8pm, he might have said he was going to be in the gym at that time. Now, I change my plans and go to dinner at 8. I’m looking for enjoyment. I know I can enjoy professional golf in a different way. I love going out with the lads.

Imagine LIV Golf came along 20 years ago and they made you an offer. Would you have gone?
I think LIV can be good for some players. Like the Champions Tour, it’s 54 holes, no cut and a limited field. So if you’re any good you’ll be in contention a lot. Sweating it out on the cut-line every week kills players.
But the majors are it for me. So anything that would have harmed my ability to contend in and win those, I wouldn’t have done. I joined the PGA Tour because I didn’t want it to be like playing in Europe, where I stop and chat for five minutes with almost everyone. Those minutes add up. And that’s what it was like for me when I went to a major in the States. When I was just a European Tour member, I would meet all sorts of people I hadn’t seen for months. They would all be at the majors, and I would feel obliged to talk to them.
If I played on the PGA Tour more often, I would have seen nearly all of those people very recently. So I could give them a wave and go about my business. It all became more familiar just by me playing in the States. It was a big thing. I had to make sure I could prepare properly for the biggest events.

4 Aces’ Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez. LIV Golf

So you’re OK with LIV and all its implications?
Whether you like the concept of team golf or not, or the source of the LIV money, whatever, to some extent we should just let them have a go at it. If you don’t like it and think it will fail, leave them alone and let them fail. Let them see what they can do.
Most people who don’t like what LIV is doing think it’s just a bad idea. To be fair, I did watch one round last year, when Dustin Johnson holed a great putt to win. I enjoyed the flipping back and forth between all the players. I thought that was fabulous. But when I told that to someone, they responded by saying they didn’t know what was going on. I did because I’m a player. I don’t like the fact that, where you’re not in contention, you don’t get shown. But LIV shows everyone. I like that. That’s why LIV have gone to the smaller fields. They can show everyone. Plus, like the Champions Tour, it’s pretty predictable. If Dustin Johnson isn’t in the top-five at the end of a LIV event, he’s had a terrible week. But put him in a PGA Tour field with 155 other players and there are no guarantees. That’s a problem for golf. You can’t always depend on the biggest names being in contention on Sunday. It’s hard to tell who is going to be on the leaderboard.

What about the World Ranking? There is lots of talk about them at the moment. Some think it now favours PGA Tour players too much. Where do you stand on that?
I actually have a bee in my bonnet about the World Rankings. A good player in Europe can often ruin his game by going to the States a little too early. He gets an invitation to play in one event. He goes to a course they have never seen. And he plays like it is the final round of tour school. It is all such a big deal to him.
Here’s the bigger thing though. In the States, he gets the worst draw. He plays with two guys who are struggling to keep their cards. All very different from home, where he gets TV draws alongside the best players in the field and gets treated like a star. In Europe his game is hyped-up and he plays like that. But in the States no one knows who he is and he shoots two 75s. And those 75s are used to judge the 150 European Tour players who stayed at home. All because our guy is a fish out of water.
It works the other way, too. When an American comes to play in Europe, he gets a great draw. He gets the penthouse suite and feels like a star. So he shoots two 65s. So if it was up to me, I’d adjust the World Ranking points. About 40 per cent of every field should actually get them every week. You should never be last and get points. If there are only 20 guys in the field, only eight get points. I’d say the same about LIV events. Give points to 40 per cent of the field. And if it’s only three rounds, cut that to 75 per cent of what a 72-hole event gets. Fair enough.
It’s a travesty that winning smaller events is devalued. If you win on the Asian Tour, you might get only four points. But winning is the big thing for me. First, second and third should get the vast majority of the points. Finishing 20th in a PGA Tour event is not better than winning a tournament. It’s just not, even if it’s a win on the Alps Tour. I know that’s a hard sell, but winning is how we should be judging players.
Having said that, everyone who makes the cut in a major should get a 10-point bonus. There’s not enough points in the majors. Making the cut in a major is a big deal.

The post Q&A: Padraig Harrington on what LIV got right, the World Ranking problem and what senior golf has taught him appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Irishman will compete alongside defending champion Nicolai Højgaard, his twin brother Rasmus, and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who finished second in the 2022 Race to Dubai Rankings.

Harrington has made a roaring start to life on the seniors tour, claiming the US Senior Open last year  to add to his adding to his US PGA Championship and two Open Championship trophies. He returns for his second appearance at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.

“I’m looking forward to playing the Ras Al Khaimah Championship next month,” said Harrington. “I enjoyed last year’s tournament and relish the opportunity to visit Ras Al Khaimah and play at Al Hamra Golf Club once again.

“I ended last season well over in the US with a win at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and it will be great to get my 2023 season up and running in the Middle East.”

“The field for the Ras Al Khaimah Championship is getting better by the day and we can’t wait to see Padraig Harrington in action next month,” said Tom Phillips, Head of the Middle East for the DP World Tour.

“The former Ryder Cup captain is an icon of the game and is playing some fantastic golf lately having won four times last year on the PGA Tour Champions.”

The post Padraig Harrington confirmed for Ras Al Khaimah Championship at Al Hamra appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Speaking ahead of the contest, three-time major champion Padraig Harrington was effusive in his praise of Charlie.

“It’s hard to support the angles in a golf swing…and he did it when he was 11,” he said. “At 11, he could hold the club in the right position.”

What Padraig is explaining here is that junior golfers whose body haven’t developed yet often lack the upper body strength to move the golf club with their intended technique. The weight of the club often takes over, and they rely on their hands to time it at the last moment.

It’s very common in junior golfers (Tiger himself says he did it), and it’s why so many good junior golfers grow up hitting big draws. But Charlie’s move, Harrington says, is different.

“Most kids who are good at 11, 12, 13 years of age, their swing hasn’t even come close to developing,” Harrington says. “I bet you if you went back and looked at Rory at 12 years of age, he was hitting a big loopy, drop kick [draw] because that’s what kids do. But Charlie has always managed to pressure the golf ball, which is exceptional at that age. It really is.”

It’s high praise from one of the best players of his generation, but of course, playing the game of golf needs more than a good swing. Harrington was quick not to place too much expectation on the young golfer.

“It doesn’t really matter how good you are at 11, 12, 13 years of age,” he says. “It’s how much he loves the game when he’s 22 years of age … it’s fascinating to watch now, but it will come down to how much he really loves the game for how successful he is.”

The post ‘It’s exceptional’: Why this major champ is in awe of Charlie Woods’ golf swing appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.