Padraig Harrington rolled back the years today to shoot a superb bogey free round of 66 to lie on eight under par after the third round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Harrington told Meridian Media’s Denis Kirwan he was delighted to play so well and he also spoke of how he still enjoys competing alongside a talent pool of players which is only getting younger and deeper.
“My whole group I think we had three holes to go and none of us had a bogey. You don’t want thoughts in your head. I said it to Matthieu (Pavon) and he bogeyed a hole which took the pressure off me thinking about it anyway,” said Harrington who is nicely placed at just two shots outside the top-10.
“It was a really nice group, they were two shots ahead of me most of the day but I finished strong to finish ahead of them but there was plenty of momentum in the group especially in that rain early on.”
Harrington (53) has had an interesting season, two Champions Tour wins have become standard practice for him and while he finished T22 at the Open Championship, a run of six missed cuts in seven events on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour has left him feeling like he needs to belong again at this level.
“There is an element that when I play in these events I want to feel like I belong in terms of a competitiveness. I’m not here to make up the numbers and there is an element of me at times being a little on edge, trying too hard. I shouldn’t be out of my depth but sometimes you feel on the edge of it,” added the three-time major winner.
“Shooting good scores today obviously I said yesterday making the cut gave me the opportunity to shoot a good score and hopefully I can build some momentum and gain some confidence at this level and feel like my B game is good enough. You have to be very comfortable in the environment and the more good scores you shoot the better you will feel.
“I’ve either played poorly or putted well or played well and putted poorly. I haven’t been holing putts from 10 to 20 feet but when I play badly I am holing them from five, six, eight feet. You have to be patient. If you play well the best you are going to have is a string of putts from 10 to 25 feet, you can’t have all birdie putts from inside 8-feet.
“Everyone who plays good golf can feel they aren’t putting better than anyone else. Today I held my fair share.”
While he has clearly shown that on his day he can still be more than competitive on Europe’s top tier he has no interest in playing full time on either of the main tours.
“I’m doing what I want to do. I play tournaments I want to play. I have no interest in chasing round the European Tour or PGA TOUR, the standard is so good and it’s a lot of work, but I still like going to the nice venues and the places I am comfortable with and like. I will continue to play those events that I like, I’m never chasing again it would be too much for me.
“I have the luxury of going back to the Champions Tour, it’s a real joy. I’m not hitting shots this evening because I’m tired and I know if I go and hit them I will be more tired tomorrow. Champions Tour I can play in a cart and go away and work on things, if I kept playing in events like this I would be too tired.”
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