Pádraig Harrington can still keep up with the young guns off the tee and he doesn’t see the 2028 golf ball rollback making much of an impact on driving distance in the game.
Harrington, who still averages over 300 yards off the tee has been coming to the K Club since the early 1990s and although the golf course has been lengthened since the days of the Smurfit European Open and previous Irish Open editions, he feels that modern technology negates that and actually makes the golf course play shorter than when he first started playing here.
“It’s incredible we are two tees further back when I played this course first and it plays 40 yards shorter,” Harrington said after an opening round of 74 at the Amgen Irish Open. “The holes are forty yards longer but four clubs shorter than the 90s. Golf courses just don’t play long anymore. There’s no fear of length.
“It (distance) won’t end will the rollback. The rollback will hardly put a dent in it, it will put a dent in it but hopefully it will hold it from where it is today. It’s not just the speeds and physicality, the performance of the ball and driver is so significantly better. Holes back in the day the fifth used to be a drive and 2-iron up the hill, now I hit 3-wood off the tee and that’s from the tee thirty yards further back.
“I played here in the early 90s and the course was so big, it was the biggest golf course ever! Length doesn’t scare professional golfers, rough doesn’t scare professional golfers, if you want to make your golf course difficult – firm greens and fast greens that’s a big separator for professionals.”
As for his own round which leaves him up against it to make the cut this weekend, the three-time major winner and 2007 Irish Open champion lamented a stone cold putter as he carded three bogeys and a birdie on a day where he held virtually nothing.
“It was pretty frustrating, missed a short one on the first green and I couldn’t get the ball in the hole so tough day like that,” said a visibly disappointed Harrington. “I didn’t create any momentum. Not the end of the world, hit it nicely and hit a lot of positive putts just wasn’t able to get the reads right.”
Despite a thoroughly disappointing round the 54-year-old still lapped up the love from the busy crowd.
“It was very enjoyable, nice crowd all the way from the start and it’s always very encouraging. I would have liked to make a few more birdies for them but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“I really enjoyed today. I hit the ball well, created a lot of chances from tee to green just had a very cold putter today. When I thought it was going to stop breaking it kept breaking and when I thought it was going to keep breaking it stopped breaking. I just didn’t get a run on the green at all.”
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