HARRINGTON REVELS IN MASTERS RETURN
NO need to tell Padraig Harrington what a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago he stood on the same spot on the same practice ground at the same tournament, the Houston Open, looking crestfallen.
Now look at him. There is contentment as he hits a few shots and breaks off to chat with his long-time caddie, Ronan Flood. He has the bearing of a man handed an unlikely lifeline.
He’s the three-time major champion who has got his mojo back.
A month ago Harrington had fallen outside the world’s top 300 when he accepted an invitation to play in the Honda Classic in Florida. He ended up winning his first tournament in America since the 2008 US PGA Championship.
First, let’s return to the depths of despair.
‘Last year? Yeah I was devastated,’ he admits. ‘I thought all along I’d do something that would get me to the Masters. I’d been in contention to win and now I wasn’t good enough to start. It was a huge shock.’
It was the first major this century for which he’d failed to qualify and he ended up watching it sulking on the sofa at home. ‘It was very tough,’ he says.
‘I watched it all and it wasn’t nice. Even though I was out of form you always think you have a chance at any major, so I was gutted to miss out.’
He looked for all the world like he would miss out this year, too, until that dramatic play- off victory in the Sunshine State. The spoils of success included an invitation to Augusta. Ask him about next week and he sounds like a kid who’s discovered chocolate.
‘I feel like I’m going to play in the Masters for the first time, I’m that excited,’ he said. ‘It’s funny, all my family are going this year, while in other years it was, like, “Ah, not to worry, we’ll wait and go another year”. Now that I’ve missed one they’re fearing this will be the last time they will have the chance.
‘As a player, a bit of that creeps in as well. When you’re playing great you think you’re never going to miss these events. It’s always been about peaks and troughs. My wins tend to come together so hopefully I’ll win a few more now.’
Two of his wins together were the Open and USPGA in 2008. So, as the last player to go to Augusta looking for a third straight major victory, how does he rate Rory McIlroy’s chances?
‘The good thing is that expectation is already at saturation point, so I don’t think that will be an issue,’ he said. ‘Every week he’s the main man so he’s used to it. The main issue for Rory is that so many other players are playing so well. Take Dustin Johnson. Rory’s big thing was that he’d hit a driver everywhere while most players would hit three wood. And he’d hit it straight. But Dustin does the same thing — and he’s 20 yards longer than Rory.
‘Having said that, Rory has shown when he has his A game, he wins. I’d go there with the attitude that if I win the Masters next year it’ll still be the career grand slam. He’s just got to try to stay out of his own way as much as he can.’
Harrington knows all about this mental side of the game, having read every volume on the subject.
Last summer he started working with Steve Peters, the psychologist who helped Britain’s cycling team to glory.
‘He has really helped me out,’ said Harrington. ‘He’s helped me rediscover some essential truths about my game. I’d lost my confidence in my ability to read greens, whereas before I thought there was no-one I’d rather read a 10ft putt to win a major.
‘So that huge change in belief led to a lot of tentative strokes.
‘As for my ‘inner chimp’, he’s not angry. I don’t throw clubs or lose my temper.
‘He’s an introvert, but he’s very devious. He needs a lot of reassuring and he was doing a lot of damage.
‘But rediscovering those essential truths has helped me put my chimp back in his box.’
And long may he keep him there.