Harrington: The longer I stayed on main tours I thought ‘God this is hard’

Pádraig Harrington feels a summer spent on the DP World Tour wore him out as he saw his unlikely Ryder Cup bid come up well short in the end.

Harrington admitted at July’s Open Championship that he and his caddie Ronan Flood made the decision to prioritise the DP World Tour in the summer because he felt he was still playing well enough to win. The 52-year-old caught the eye at the beginning of the year with top-10s on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour before racking up seven top-10s in nine Champions Tour starts including a win at the end of June in the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open.

Initially Harrington carried that form onto the main tours, breaking back inside the top-200 in the world but his form fizzled out in the autumn with a T79 at the Horizon Irish Open before back-to-back missed cuts at the BMW Championship and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“I’ve been playing nicely on the Champions Tour and I had a bit more confidence, got myself going, wanted to see if I could take that back to the regular tour,I did initially and was quite comfortable, but the longer I stayed it kinda went back to ‘God, this is hard,’” said Harrington.

“You’re kind of on edge, you don’t feel like you can make any mistakes, whereas when I started on the regular tour from the Champions Tour I was feeling pretty good, making plenty of birdies, I could take a few more knocks. But that sort of got worn out on me.”

Ahead of the Charles Schwab Playoffs which begin at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, Harrington admits he can roll with the punches more on the Champions Tour.

“Look, I love playing out here on the Champions Tour. It’s great,” Harrington said. “It’s a new lease on life. You’re relaxed, feel good about your game. It’s amazing how much better you play when you feel good. Because I’m physically able to still hit it, I still have that temptation that I can play with the young guys and still beat them.”