Pádraig Harrington believes he can defy his age and win for the 16th time on the DP World Tour and feels he is hitting the ball as well as ever during his illustrious career.
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez holds the record as the oldest winner on the DP World Tour, aged 50 years and 133 days and 53-year-old Harrington has remained competitive in Europe despite not breaking the record as the golden oldie.
Harrington has enjoyed a new lease of life on the Champions Tour, winning nine times, but in tandem he has maintained a level of consistency on the main tours finishing 12th with four rounds in the 60s at Wentworth last year as well as making cuts in four of his last five major championships.
The three-time major winner is bullish about his chances of becoming the oldest winner on the DP World Tour and doesn’t believe he is running out of time, not by a long shot.
“Oh yeah, easily. Physically I am good enough and I’m actually playing well enough that I think I don’t need to catch lightning in a bottle. I actually think I’m hitting the ball as well as ever,” Harrington said in the DP World Tour Green Room.
“There was a great quote from Tiger back in the day that he could win with his ‘B’ game. If you think you can win with your ‘B’ game, your ‘A’ game turns up. If you think you need your ‘A’ game, your ‘B’ game turns up.”
Harrington has had a fantastic career to date but has yet to add to his collection of wins on any major tour since the 2016 Portugal Masters.
Yet, in that time he has eleven top-10s with three of them coming in his over-50s career, he had an outside chance to win the Open Championship at Royal Troon last year, or at least put himself into contention and was an unlikely contender for Luke Donald’s 2023 European Ryder Cup team, two years after captaining the side himself.
For Harrington, he is not focused on achieving just one thing, as ever, the possibilities remain endless.
“I still have big dreams in the game of golf and I know I was burnt out by this game like all golfers seem to burn out in their 20th year, it’s just so uniform the way the game goes. But I have found a new lease of life and I know I need to find the right balance in terms of my attitude towards golf.
“I am really enjoying playing golf, what’s not to enjoy.”
And who knows? That 16th DP World Tour win might come this weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic. Harrington was in fine form during his opening round of two-under 70 which leaves him five shots off the early pace.
He came agonisingly close to a bogey-free round but a lack of concentration saw him miss a two-footer for par on 18 which did spoil the opening round of his 29th season on Tour.
“I bogey the last to shoot 70 if I birdie the last to shoot 71 I would probably be happy. I feel terrible, it’s a strange game. I’ve done it a million times before and I’m sure I’ll do it again. It’s one of those things.”
“I got out of my routine and I was trying to hit it left half and my last thought was don’t miss it right, don’t open the club face so I pulled it then.”
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