Pádraig Harrington admits he has already started mentally drafting his World Golf Hall of Fame induction speech ahead of the ceremony on June 10.
Harrington will be in Pinehurst Resort & Country Club on the Monday of US Open week where he will become just the third Irishman to become a member following a career which has amassed three major championship titles, 15 DP World Tour wins and 6 PGA Tour wins.
“I’m starting to get into it. Yeah, I’m starting to think about what I want to say. Yeah, getting in my head where I’m going to go with it, what sort of angle,” Harrington said ahead of his first Champions Tour start of the year at the Chubb Classic in Naples.
“I think you’re probably hitting the nail on the head. It’s probably a nice — just some nice stories and celebrating, just be very thankful for that, what golf has given to me over the years.”
Harrington competed twice on the DP World Tour in January but admitted he wasn’t ready for competitive golf following a winer battle with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. Even this week in Tiburon he is admittedly far from 100 percent.
“I’ve had pneumonia during the winter, so I’m struggling a little bit still with the recovery and the energy,” he said. “It’s nice to be in the sunshine.
“I played two in the Middle East. I thought I was ready, but I wasn’t. The pneumonia was worse than I thought. Again, I’ve come out here and I started Monday here feeling pretty good and gone downhill every day energy-wise.”
The Champions Tour seems a wise choice for the Dubliner to rebuild his fitness and form. 54 holes where the pressure is off before he embarks on a busy pre-summer schedule.
The three-time major winner will venture to the PGA Tour in Mexico and Palm Beaches for the Mexico Open and Cognizant Classic – formerly The Honda Classic where he is a two-time winner before playing a mixture of PGA and Champions Tour events in March.
“So my Champions Tour really doesn’t start going until, for me, it’s really starting in May,” he said. “You know, I like those Champions Tour events into the summer, majors and that.
“I see the Champions Tour much more of that. Sort of early season I still have to hold down competing with the old guys and then want to try and get my game in that sort of shape, and maybe when it gets to middle or later of the season, reality kicks in and I come back to the Champions Tour.”
Harrington has often discussed how he felt burned out in 2016 after 20 years on tour but these days the Champions Tour allows him to step away from the ultra competitive world of the main tours and he feels rejuvenated by a balanced life on the senior and main circuit as he continues his search for the secret.
“I think most players of my year lasted about 15 years before they burned out. Might have played for about 20, but last five years, and certainly I would’ve hit a wall. You know, around 2016, that would’ve been about 20 years, and I certainly was burned out.
“I think the Champions Tour has really helped me. When you come back out here you are competing to win. You’re up there in contention. The idea the winning piques your interest and you’re into it.
“I think if I was out there struggling to make putts I think I would quickly lose interest. The Champions Tour really does do the job its meant to do. It gives you a second lease on life.
“I had pneumonia and I’ve been struggling. I still worked on my technique and swing, and you’re coming back out with a few things you’ve changed and a lot of hope. You’re always coming back out thinking you found the secret.
“I remember watching an interview with Arnold Palmer, Champions Tour event. I would say he was close to 70 at the time. Came in and shot a low one, had beaten his age.
“He was like absolutely blushing with excitement in the interview saying he had found the secret.
“Anybody that plays the game long enough, we all dream of finding the secret. We take the reality that we know that ain’t ever happening. You always think, maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and I have that one key thought that I believe in and trust and it’ll never go wrong.”
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