It seems ridiculous to say that one of golf’s most meticulous characters and a self professed “golf nerd” hasn’t set any goals for this season. But Pádraig Harrington is solely focused on trying to win on any given week whether that is on the Champions Tour or in his bid to become the oldest player on one of the main worldwide tours.
Harrington showed that he can still hang with the young guns on the DP World Tour like Martin Couvra and Angel Ayora as he made his 380th cut in his 500th start at the Qatar Masters, a 76 per cent strike rate. But such milestones don’t really bother him. It’s about winning.
“No. I used to write my goals down but now I’m just trying to win any week I turn up,” the 54-year-old said during his commentary shift on Sky Sports on Friday. “I could tell you I give myself a talking to everyday and I’ve gone to the range just the same old stuff I need to figure out a better way of practicing.
“Sometimes we get lost in working on our technique then you are on the golf course and standing over the ball and still searching. I have to find a good balance between doing my technical practice, my speed work but not overdoing it.
“We see performance coaches coming into golf, it’s very important. A lot of us we need help!”
The three-time major winner also weighed in on the current state of the DP World Tour and while he is impressed with the plethora of young talent on the circuit he would rather see them stay on the tour rather than rushing to get to the PGA Tour.
Harrington has six PGA Tour wins to date with his first coming at the 2005 Honda Classic but he admitted that he bided his time before moving Stateside but also acknowledged that the financial pull that the tour has makes it almost impossible to say no if the opportunity to play over there presents itself.
Of the ten DP World Tour graduates to the PGA Tour last year, Jesper Svensson, Nicklas Norgaard, Thiston Lawrence, Matteo Manassero, Ryo Hoshino, Antoine Rozner and Paul Waring all lost their status in America and are back on the DP World Tour.
“You go to the PGA Tour if there are 120 people maybe 50 of them are consistently the best players in the world then another 50 are on the run of their life so you are competing against 100 guys who are pretty damn good and hot. It is very deep over there, it’s very tough, you go over there and don’t know the golf courses, you’re starting again, you’re slightly outside of your comfort zone,” explained Harrington who enjoyed playing Clash of Clans in his spare time on the tour but has now developed a love of sudoku.
“I will say that it is slightly different to back in the day where a lot of Europeans struggled, there’s more Europeans so at least there is somebody to talk to. You’re not as lonely or isolated over there. Personally I didn’t go for about five years after I had my card in the States and I would say to a lot of these guys – it’s very hard with the money – I would say no, stay here get your big TV draws like these guys are getting this week.
“Go to the PGA Tour these will be the guys who wouldn’t be finishing in the dark, taking the pins in. They are big stars here, in the States they are forgotten about. It’s hard to not go for the money but I would love them to stay here and develop as players.
“The States is very lonely if you are an international player, everyone does their own thing. The European Tour you are always mixing with other people, staying in the same hotels, eating meals, sharing cars, in the US you might not see anyone from one week to the other outside of the golf course. So you have to bring somebody with you who is always there to talk to in the evenings and drag you out of the hotel when things aren’t going well.”
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