PINEHURST, N.C. — As the date of his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame neared, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington said the preparations held a certain familiarity.
“It’s like a wedding,” he said. “The invites and the speech and all that goes with it.”
Harrington, who claimed three major-championship victories and is one of four players to have hoisted consecutive titles in the British Open (2007, 2008), is to be inducted on Monday evening in a ceremony at Pinehurst Resort ahead of the 2024 U.S. Open. During his long and prosperous professional career, which also included a victory in the 2008 PGA Championship, Harrington recorded 39 worldwide victories – 15 of which came on the DP World Tour and six more on the PGA Tour.
He represented Europe in six Ryder Cup Matches and later captained the team in 2021. Among his many achievements and honors, Harrington topped the European Tour Order of Merit in 2006 and was named the European Tour and PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2008.
After representing Great Britain & Ireland in three Walker Cups (1991, 1993, 1995), Harrington won the 1998 Spanish Open during his rookie season on the European Tour. He went on to spend more than 300 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
During a typically brilliant interview covering all facets of his life as a golfer, Harrington remembered his earliest days in the game when his father, a former Gaelic football star and policeman, helped build two courses for the local police officers. Harrington grew up at Stackstown Golf Club in South County Dublin, and still remembers leveling the 12th green and chasing rabbits there.
“From the age of 4,” said Harrington, the youngest of Paddy and Breda’s five sons, “that was my playground, where I spent my summers playing 45 holes a day. All I wanted to do was beat my brothers.”
By age 15, Harrington was playing off scratch. One of the last times that one of Harrington’s brothers got the better of him, he lost a pound, which his brother pinned to the wall.
“It stayed there for some 20 years,” Harrington said, “just as a reminder that he beat me.”
Despite an undefeated record in singles matches between 1990-96, Harrington never considered turning pro. He changed his mind when he kept beating all the players that were joining the pro ranks.
“I assure you if I had an intention to turn pro, I’d never have spent four years going to night school to become an accountant,” he said.
Harrington was competing in a tournament on the European Tour’s Challenge Tour in Nairobi when he was invited to compete in a tournament in Durban, South Africa.
Six players had already declined but Harrington jumped at the chance. Playing with clubs 4 degrees too upright and suffering dehydration, Harrington finished 46th and won 1,480 pounds.
He rang his mother on a pay phone and proclaimed, “You’ll never believe it. I made the cut and they’re just giving it away.”
That proved to be a pivotal moment in his career.
All of a sudden, he sensed he could do it, that he belonged. In 1998, he played his best golf at the U.S. Open, but only finished T-26. Convinced he needed to improve, Harrington switched to instructor Bob Torrance. Sports psychologist Bob Rotella also played a big role in Harrington going from a frequent bridesmaid to a champion.
“He has one of the most upbeat attitudes,” said Rotella. “I remember the first time he told me he was going to win majors was on a Friday at the Masters 10 minutes after he missed the cut by one shot. I met him at the putting green and he tells me, ‘I just found out today that I’m going to win majors. I got my mind and body to do what I want to do.’ You don’t often hear a guy say he’s going to win majors after he misses the cut on Friday.”
Another critical moment came in defeat at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot when he made bogey on the last three holes and finished fifth. Despite falling short, he realized he had played good enough to win.
That led to his major championship run of two Claret Jugs and the Wannamaker Trophy.
He continues to work at his craft as hard as anybody, but seems at peace with the fact that his best golf may be behind him.
“At some stage, there is a tipping point between innocence and experience and scar tissue and the game tends to get harder as you get more knowledge,” Harrington said. “I still love the game. I’m fascinated by it, I’m obsessed by it, I’m addicted to it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”