Padraig Harrington has struck a bad patch, nothing new, it has happened to many great golfers previously and no doubt will happen again to many more in the future.
Winning The Open Championship last year at Carnoustie put him on a pinnacle and without doubt, he is now classed alongside the great triumvirate of Irish golf. Fred Daly, Harry Bradshaw & Christy O'Connor Senior.
Fame also brings pressures and Padraig has coped admirably with them during the past months.
A professional golfer is under immense pressure almost on a weekly basis, striving to find success on golf courses throughout the world and the very nature of the game dictates it is an impossible dream.
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Fred Daly, the first Irishman to win The Open, often said "Golf is just like life, one day things are great, the next everything changes"
To date, Padraig Harrington has received his coaching from Bob Torrance, a tried and trusted pro. from the old school and together they have formed an excellent partnership.
The US Open at Torrey Pines beckons, The British Open follows in a months time, both will add to Harrington's pressure with the media in full pursuit.
What an opportunity for every sports psychologist and coach to exploit Pagraig, professing to have a magic cure to all his problems and hopefully he will send them all packing.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, Gene Sarazen, referring to "mindbenders" said :- " He put his arms around me and whispered in my ear "Palsy-walsey, you and I are going to make a lot of money". I've steered clear of psychologists since"
DON'T WORRY PADRAIG, TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY.
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3 months ago
Nice article Peter. It is strange what's happened to Harrington. It is strange because it's happened gradually proceeding his rise to the top of the golf world with his win at the British Open last year. People had been waiting for Harrington to break out and win a Major and when he won the British Open many thought that he would really take off and be a genuine competitor at many majors to come; instead he went the opposite direction which is surprising.
As you said in your article, everyone is an expert and tries to offer some insight into why Harrington is not playing well. It could be one of hundreds of reasons or it could just be unexplainable like when Ian Baker Finch mysteriously just lost his game in tournament play.
I do however think that Harrington is taking the wrong apporach by playing in much fewer tournaments and concentrating almost solely on the Majors. This works for guys like Woods and Mickelson but that has never been part of Harrington's approach. He has always played in a good number of tournaments each year.
As they say, practicing and playing in a tournament are two completely different animals. Guys like Woods and Mickelson might be used to making this transition back and forth but Harrington seems to be struggling with this and might be better suited going back to his old ways of playing in a large number of tournaments - when he was most successful.
I obviously don't know what Harrington has been working on with his coaches, psychologists, etc. He and his coach might be in the process of some kind of revamp of his swing or something along those lines. But as far as I can see, the biggest change to Harrington's routine this year is that he is playing in few tournaments and has tried to take up the Woods/Mickelson strategy of not playing very often and focusing solely on preparing for the majors. Every player is different and this strategy might not work for Harrington.
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