Like most of us, Pádraig Harrington was glued to a television screen on Sunday evening as Rory McIlroy became only the fourth player in history to successfully defend the Masters Tournament, and as somebody who knows a thing or two about winning majors himself, Harrington feels that McIlroy won’t end his career as just a two-time winner of the green jacket.
The success at the top of the sport, however, masks the alarming strength in depth for the nation as a whole in professional golf.
“It’s great for Irish golf,” Harrington told the press ahead of the Senior PGA Championship at The Concession Golf Club in Florida, where he is bidding to add a Senior PGA to the U.S. Senior and Senior Open Championship titles he currently holds. “We’ve added another major title, which is very nice. We’ve been doing very well at the top of the table. Not so well at the bottom of the table. We haven’t had a lot of new guys come onto tour.
“I think when I started out on tour, there was 15 Irish guys on the European Tour. I played the first four events. This year I was the only Irish guy. Yeah, we’re strong at the top.
“As regards to Masters, Rory could win 10 of them at this stage or five of them, anyway. He probably will still be competitive at 50 years of age around that golf course. For him, it was interesting that he won that one with his short game, which makes him even better a player.”
McIlroy’s prowess off the tee and with his long irons has never been in doubt, and Harrington has long been an admirer of his touch around the greens, but the improvement in his putting over the past few seasons has been stark and that, added to his new-found mental toughness, earned him a second green jacket in Harrington’s eyes. Now as an all-round performer, Harrington believes that it puts him in a much stronger position moving forward.
“Over the years, his physicality to driving and the iron play…. He’s always been a superb chipper, but now it’s with the putting and things like that. A very rounded game and a game that looks like it has a lot of longevity in it. So he’s in a very nice place going forward, particularly at that tournament that you would think. It’s amazing when you win one, that he’s now got two, and we’re thinking that maybe two or three or five would be realistic around that golf course.
“But, yeah, he showed some real good character there. You know, psychology-wise he really won that tournament. His mentality and how he went about things, that’s a very strong showing for him.
“He obviously still has the physical side of the game, but to show that short game and the mental side of the game means he looks like he would be a very strong force for a while to come in the game.”
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