Padraig Harrington Persists Through Swing Changes, Sunday Meltdowns

The adversity Padraig Harrington has faced over the course of the 2009 PGA Tour season has been largely self-inflicted, with the possible exception of an unpopular ruling by John Paramor at the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.

He didn’t enter the year fresh off of reconstructive knee surgery, and his season wasn’t interrupted by his wife’s battle with breast cancer. And while it’s impossible to compare family tragedy with failure on the golf course, Harrington’s stick-to-itiveness has been most impressive of all.

The 38-year-old Irishman won three major championships in 13 months, including back-to-back Open Championships. Then like a newly elected politician would use his political capital to advance his agenda, Harrington used the leeway his major championship success had earned him to embark upon a swing change. It was something he had done plenty of times before throughout his career, but this time the spotlight would be much brighter.

“Obviously I wouldn’t recommend it to everybody to do all the time,” said Harrington prior to the Open Championship at Turnberry. “You’ve got to play for the now every so often. But I fully expect that I go through this now and hopefully be more comfortable with my swing and going forward over the next ten years I’ll be very competitive and win plenty more tournaments.”

When Harrington’s swing changes finally began to yield positive results, he would face more adversity.

Locked in a Sunday duel with Tiger Woods at Firestone Country Club, site of the Bridgestone Invitational, Harrington and Woods were put on the clock, and it was Harrington who found himself out of position and out of contention after a triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 16th.

In a show of respect seldom displayed by Woods for his competition, the World’s No. 1 attacked the rules official and complemented his playing partner.

“Paddy is an extremely hard worker, very patient and really believes in his game,” Woods remarked. “It’s really nice to see someone who works that hard at his game to accomplish his goals, and that’s certainly one of the things I’ve always admired about him.”

The next week Harrington headed to Hazeltine to defend his PGA crown. Harrington spoke about how the perception of him had changed among the public following his major success.  

“I do believe that people’s attitudes to me have changed,” he said. “When you win a major tournament, as a number of milestones in my career, whether it was winning my first tournament or maybe making The Ryder Cup, people believe when it happens on that Sunday that you’re a better player than you were the Monday before.”

Once again Harrington found himself in contention on Sunday, but another 8, this time a quintuple-bogey, all but ended his chances of repeating. The perception of Harrington was again different on Monday. In the matter of a year he’d gone from champion to choke artist.

Undeterred Harrington showed up at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club outside of Chicago for this week’s BMW Championship, and after two rounds he’s just one shot back of co-leaders Mark Wilson and Woods. Despite it all, Harrington says he’s maintained his sense of humor and perspective.  

“How could you not?” Harrington said after his round. “Every day you wake up to a lifestyle like I have playing professional golf. As I always say, I'd play this game for free, just don't tell anybody.

“You know, it's fantastic,” he added. “Even on the bad days, you wouldn't swap it for anything else. I know that some of the bad days, they can feel bad at the time. But if you had to sit there and think about it, you'd still rather be out on the golf course. No matter how bad it's going, you'd still rather be out there trying and working it out. Every day is a good day on the golf course.”

The FedEx Cup is within his grasp, but there could be another Sunday meltdown on the horizon. Regardless of the outcome at Cog Hill, Harrington will show up at East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship because “There’s always next week.”

Harrington may not win a single event in ’09, but he’s proved that he has the mental toughness and persistence to challenge golf’s most dominant player. In 2010, when the major championships visit venues like St. Andrews and Pebble Beach, all eyes will be on Woods. Harrington won’t be far behind.

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