Golf Magazine, March, 2004
The first thing you notice about Padraig Harrington is the walk. Each stride seems to start from the shoulders, his arms propelling him forward in a jaunty gait that reminds you: This 32-year-old Dubliner has plenty of reasons to be jaunty.
He has been ranked in the world's top 10 for two years and recently autographed a multi-million-dollar deal with Wilson. It hasn't always been such good cheer. For much of his career Harrington seemed fated to be the perennial bridesmaid. Once he even managed to snatch embarassment from the jaws of victory: Leading by five shots entering the final round of the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship, he was famoulsy disqualified for forgetting to sign his third-round scorecard. And he says that wasn't his most painful loss.
While his fellow Irishman Darren Clarke exudes a larger-than-life bonhomie, Harrington is almost hermetic in his abstinence. He drinks only victory Champagne-invariably surrounded by his countrymen. At the European Ryder Cup team's private victory party in 2002, Harrington stood on a chair to take his bow and saw many familiar faces. "They were all Irish and I knew none of them had tickets" he says with a laugh. "They were all gatecrashers. We can always find a party."
He's shed 40 pounds thanks to a strict workout regimen, and he's retooled his swing under the tutelage of Bob Torrance. Harrington has blossomed into Europe's most consistent performer. "Padraig has totally transformed the way he hits the ball," says his World Cup partner Paul McGinley. "I've never seen anyone in golf go from being such a poor ball striker to such a good one. Because Darren's talent is flashier than Padraig's, people think Darren is an underachiver and Padraig is an overachiever. That's not the case. Padraig doesn't get enough credit."
This month, golf's least well-known star talks about becoming a father, his reputation for choking and how it feels going eye-to-eye with Tiger.
Your first child, Patrick, was born in August. How is fatherhood?
It's great. I remember when other professionals would talk about new babies and losing sleep and I would roll my eyes at them. Now I appreciate it. But he's a good baby. If I find it tough with all my advantages, I wonder how my mother did it with five kids.
How does the PGA Tour fit into your career plans?
I had intended to take up full playing rights in the States this year, but with Patrick's birth it just doesn't look like it's possible. I'd love to play more here but that might put me under pressure at home. I'd rather go the first year with my son and then consider it for future years.
Who were your inspirations when you started out as a professional?
I would look at Bernhard Langer as a good role model. I felt he was the professional's professional. He has similar traits to my own: He got the most out of his game, worked hard at it. He looks for the max whether it's a good or bad day. My goal is to be able to look back and say, 'Well, I did all I could.' I don't mind failing. It's the not trying that would cut me up.
Like Langer, you've been criticized for slow play. Does it bother you?
You'd have to be a strong personality for it not to, but I've changed everything. My fellow pros are commenting on how quick I am now. I've made a strong effort to change but I've done it to improve my golf, not for any other reason. A lot of people are telling me I have speeded up and the referees are commenting that I'm well up there. I am a bit like Langer, though-I have to get all the information in.
“I wasn't chosen as the next star.... I thought it would be good if I could become a journeyman pro.”
Would be fair to describe you as a grinder?
I'm not the sort of person who sees the middle of the fairway. I'm the sort who sees the water hazard on the left, the bunker on the right, the wind coming here. And I put all those things together and decide what's my best option. Other players stand up there oblivious to the world and hit it.
You've won seven times in Europe but finished as the runner-up 19 times. Why do you think you've fallen short so often?
Some of them were good seconds. Some were bad seconds. I did the same as an amateur. From age 19 to 22 I finished in the top four at amateur events 24 times with two wins. And from then to age 24 I never lost a stroke-play event in Ireland.
What was your most painful loss?
I played in the Irish Youths, a big event, and was two ahead with four holes to play. I'm very relaxed and the adrenalin goes away. I drop three shots in four holes to lose. It was the toughest loss I've ever had; it gutted me. I was 18. The following year I played a smaller tournament at the same course. I stood on the last tee leading by a shot and blanked out. Total choke. Hit it straight in the woods. I had a hack at the ball, it hit a tree and came out near a fairway bunker. I've got 100 yards left out of the rough and I hit it to a foot and made par. People patted me on the back and said what guts I showed, what courage, what balls. And they were the same people who were calling me a choker eight months earlier when I didn't choke; I just relaxed. This time I did choke. That was one of the biggest learning experiences ever.
The choke comments still come today, don't they?
I love the psychology of the game. This year I won the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open. I holed a 12-footer on the last green to get into playoff. I had to two-putt a 50-footer to get into a playoff and I left it 12 feet short. Bad putt. And I holed the next one. If I'd missed that putt, it was "Oh! Twenty second places, he does it again!" But because I holed the putt then won the playoff, the attitude is "He's done it. Now he knows what he's doing, he's never going to finish second again." Look at Jack Nicklaus and see how many times he finished second. I'd love to say there was one common denominator between all my second places but there are six or 10 reasons.
In the past few years you've kept appearing in the top 10 at the majors. Are there any that you think you might have let get away?
The only one is the (2002 British) Open at Muirfield that Ernie Els won. I played great golf for 72 holes and of all things to let me down was my putting, which is normally my strong suit. To be in contention in a major with my usual strongest point being my weakest point was a big bonus. A lot of the time when I got in contention I was living on my chipping and putting. That was a big eye-opener, that my game was good enough.
“I'm not the sort of person who sees the middle of the fairway. I'm the sort who sees the water hazard on the left, the bunker on the right, the wind.”
How important to you is winning a major?
It's the ultimate goal. Money is an issue when you start off because you want to make a living. But if you are successful the money is there, so you want to win tournaments. Then when you do that, you want to win big tournaments. I've done the first two and now I want the last part. I live with the hope that one day I'll be in contention in a major and do the right thing. I'm not an intimidating force. I don't think people will be worried about me. But saying that, I do have a quiet confidence.
You've finished in the top 10 in three of the last four U.S. Opens. Have you played Shinnecock Hills?
No, but I would say that the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship are the two majors where a practice round is least important because the courses are always the same. I don't want to use the word boring but everything is so ordered. At the British Open you can see six players try to play a hole six different ways. At a U.S. Open or a PGA everyone plays a hole the same way, tries to hit it to the same place. You don't get caught out with pin positions because you're never aiming at them.
Didn't you meet your wife, Caroline, on a golf course?
I did, yeah, at my home course, Stackstown, in Dublin. She joined that summer, 14 years ago, and her father brought her up. I was playing in a junior match, she came out to watch and that was it. For me, it was a done deal. But it still took me five months to ask her out. As much as I wanted to, it was Christmas before I plucked up the courage.
When did you know you could compete with the best?
I'm still wondering today. In the amateur game, my results spoke for themselves but I wasn't automatically chosen as the next star. I had no intention of turning pro so I did accountancy at night with the idea that I'd become a golf course manager, or even a players' manager. It was only when I realized that all the guys I was beating were turning pro that I thought I should give this a go. I thought it would be good if I could become a journeyman pro, if I retained my card. Then I won after 10 weeks and that was a shock, but what could I do? I got off to a flying start and have kept my head down ever since.
After two years in the top 10, you can't still have that self-doubt.
Oh yeah, I think everybody does. After my winter break every year, I'll be wondering when I come back out if it's still there. There is a very fine line between success and failure on Tour. There are players who were considered to have far more talent than me who are club professionals or not playing at all.
How much did winning the Target event in 2002 mean to you, given how few players have gone eye-to-eye with Tiger on the weekend and won?
There were a lot of good things in that. I like to say I learn from everything but you need some confirmation that you're learning. I set out with a game plan, stuck to it even when things weren't going well, and I prevailed. I'm sure if I hadn't won that I would have taken it as a body blow. Afterward it got more hyped because it was Tiger Woods, but at the time it wasn't only Tiger. It was a field full of quality guys, and I won. But the fact that Tiger was there adds a little bit of glory to it.
The last Ryder Cup held with Americans in combat was at Kiawah Island in 1991. Do you expect the same level of ugliness this year?
We play much more with each other now than then. We know each other. You have to get on with these guys the other 51 weeks of the year. We've seen the grief that comes from having animosity in the matches. Nobody wants that.
Have you been invited to the Tour's weekly Bible study group?
I think there's an open invite but with my caddie Dave's reputation for wry irreverence I wouldn't get in.
Your cousin is Detroit Lions quarterback Joey Harrington. He followed you at Augusta a few years ago but didn't introduce himself because you doubled the 18th. Have you met yet?
Yes, we went out to dinner a couple of times at The Masters last year. But now we have another star in the family who takes a lot more kudos than Joey.
You mean Dan Harrington, the 1995 World Series of Poker champion? He won $1 million for that.
Yeah. Joey was good-'Oh, quarterback, yeah, that's nice.' But now that we hear there's a card player, and a good one at that, we have to establish what part of the family he comes from. Poker-that counts for a lot more with the Harrington family.
