‘The hardest guy to play against is the one who scrambles brilliantly’
Padraig Harrington is a veteran of six Ryder Cups, and he’s been on the winning side four times. So how does he approach match play golf?
P adraig Harrington is a match play specialist who knows all the secrets about golf’s great head-to-head format. The 47-year-old has been in six Ryder Cups as a player and three as an assistant captain, and is a strong contender to be the next European captain in 2020. He loves match play and has some fascinating advice on how it should – and shouldn’t – be played.
Match play is a truer form of golf. Stroke play is more of a professional game, while match play is more of an amateur game… I love a good match.
I used to win all the time as a kid; one of my best records was never losing a singles game in the Ireland seniors side for six years. Playing for my country, I beat everybody in Britain and Europe in match play singles. How? There are a couple of things that stand out for me.
I’ve never been one for solely playing the
course, or solely playing the player. You definitely don’t play the opponent – you’ve got to concentrate on your own game. What I’ve found over the years is that it is a bit of a mixture – you have a strategy to play the course, but that strategy has to be flexible enough say, if your opponent does things that you have to react to.
The key for me was I always have to have
a fear of my opponent. I had to feel like my opponent was going to have a big day ... a great day. I performed better when I was a rookie and was scared of everybody. As I gained in my own stature I wasn’t as good or eective because I didn’t have that fear anymore.
A simple mistake – and a perfect example in match play – is if your opponent misses
the green and you play safe. But they’re professional golfers and he’s likely to get up and down so if you’ve played safe you’ve missed your opportunity of making birdie to win. My best performances came when I expected my opponent to either hole a long putt or chip in. Realise that if he’s standing over an eight-footer for par and I’m facing a seven -footer for birdie, you’ve got to expect to hole yours to win. You can’t stand there hoping he misses so you don’t have to putt because it’s then a shock when you do. A healthy fear of your opponent is always a good strategy for me.
I’ve been lucky that my form of golf is well
suited to match play because I have a good short game and will be a little erratic. I was never easy to play against – the hardest person to play against is the one who misses a lot of greens, but chips, putts and scrambles brilliantly. Their opponent thinks they should be winning and gets frustrated.
If I was a club golfer and wanted to be good at match play I’d concentrate on my short
game. Not only will that make you play a lot better, it will frustrate the opposition the most when you score well. Players get really frustrated when they see a player hit a bad shot, but get up and down for par.
Expect your opponent to do their absolute
best and don’t over-read anything. Don’t get into this “they’re deliberately walking slowly” way of thinking: people aren’t that devious, and if they are, they’re not that good at being devious. You also need to be tenacious. Stick in there when things are going badly.
Probably my best match play experience was
my singles win over Mark O’Meara on my Ryder Cup debut at Brookline in 1999. It looked like it was going to be the match that decided the Ryder Cup and the crowds suddenly flocked around our game. I think that was the most intense I’ve ever been on a golf course, probably the greatest match I’ve played in and certainly the greatest match I’ve won. I’ve never minded not being given a putt because if it’s short enough, I’ll tap it in. In my amateur days I didn’t give short putts because I thought they’d miss, yet they thought I was trying it on – I don’t understand that. I believe your clubs should do the talking and there’s a point you should never cross in gamesmanship – you should never verbalise anybody. But you can do it by posture, strutting around as if you own the place!