It’s no secret that Padraig Harrington loves pulling driver out of his bag. By his own admission, he’s obsessed with speed in the golf swing and has continued to get faster as he’s gotten older, so much so that he enjoys a considerable length advantage over the field when he tees it up on the PGA Champions Tour, and that’s certainly the case at this week’s Hoag Classic.
“Yeah, this is — last year was the first time I ever played a tournament where I hit a driver off every single par-4 and par-5 for the week, so no 3-woods, no irons off any tees,” he said. “On the face of that, the golf course should suit me. It’s a good challenge.”
Despite the friendly nature off the tee, the course has backup teeth as he discovered on his way to a seventh place finish on his first appearance at Newport Beach Country Club.
“I think the difficulty is around the greens,” he said. “They’re poa annua greens, they’re quite fast, there’s a bit of slope. So yeah, it’s a course that should suit me, but obviously you’re just going to have to have a good week. Anytime you go on poa annua greens, you just have to have a good week on the greens.”
Back-to-back top-15 finishes in his two previous Champions Tour starts have been promising without setting the world alight, but he’s still trying to find his groove after illness during the off season.
“Yeah, you know, I had pneumonia during the winter so I’m still recovering from that,” he explained. “I kind of feel OK, but I suppose the central nervous system hasn’t quite come back, I haven’t quite got that spark. That’s a day by day thing, week by week. We’ll see how that is.
“As regards to game, yeah, I would still consider this early season. I’m still finding my place this year, finding what I want to work on, maybe my key thoughts for the year. I’m not quite settled down yet. So every week there’s probably something new, which isn’t a great thing for performance. But as I said, yeah, maybe I need to get past that at the moment, but there’s still a few new things. I’ve had a week off and I’ve been trying a few different things in the swing and a few different things in the routine.”
A notoriously hard worker on his game, range sessions for Harrington these days are often punctuated by recording videos for his ‘Paddy’s Golf Tips’ YouTube account and that was the case on the Newport practice grounds, as his love affair with the game and with helping others continues unabated.
“Yeah, look, I do love the game,” he said with a smile. “You know, like a lot of pros, probably 20 years into my career I was fairly burnt out back maybe 2016, ’17. A couple of things changed after that. I kind of figured out — I tried a bit of coaching, tried a bit of commentary and eventually I figured out I actually like playing golf. I really like playing golf.
“I kind of took a new attitude to it. I make an effort to enjoy what goes in and around the golf, not just the golf. I got rid of some of the stuff that was just a burden, was probably trying to do a little bit too much. Don’t quite put as much practice in, I don’t quite put as much gym time in. I do a little, but not the same level as I was. I couldn’t keep up the pace that I would have kept up as a young man on Tour.
“But I also think the Champions Tour really gave me a new lease on life. You come out here, you feel comfortable. It’s a nice environment and when you’re in that sort of situation you tend to play a bit better and you realize your game may be a bit better than you thought it was.
“So I’ve enjoyed it out here and that relaxed feeling that I know most weeks I’m going to have a good chance come Sunday afternoon of being in contention, and if you’re in contention that’s all you want, to be able to hit one more shot for glory.”
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