Looking for a good time? Catch all the swings you can from Padraig Harrington this week at Royal Troon, where the 52-year-old golfer will be looking to win his third British Open. OK, OK, very unlikely, but not entirely. His golf is still the best.
Then, to keep the party going, check him out next week at Carnoustie, where the new World Golf Hall of Fame inductee will be looking to win his first British Senior Open. Padraig Harrington is a joy to watch.
This guy is perfect in every practice swing, every swing, every word that comes out of his mouth. He is as original as anyone playing this game today. He is also the fifth victim in a GOLF.com reality series called . . . GOLF Originals. David Feherty in March, Tom Doak in April, Mike Whan in May, Brandel Chamblee in June, here's Paddy.
You can watch it for free, here and now, on this page. Is this a good time to be alive, or what?
Want to learn how to hit a hybrid without difficulty? We got Paddy on that. Anything that went wrong with Rory on that 30-inch putt on the 70th hole of the US Open? Paddy weighs in. Or what was it like to play Greg Norman in the final two, the final, of the 2008 British Open? Or what's it like playing in a pro-am with Harrington as your pro?
Description: Harrington what you like playing in the pro-ams, but if you're going to play with him, you'll be able to handle reality better. At a senior event last month, in Endicott, N.Y., near Ithaca, Harrington played a junior who described his high school baseball experience but showed no golf acumen. Harrington was confused.
“This one in a wonderful way wrong,” he said.
The pro instructed me to make a horizontal baseball swing with the golf club. (That's Bill Murray's go-to move before taking a shot.) The boy stepped into an imaginary place. Harrington had the boy do the same to the golf ball at his feet. It soon got a hundred times better.
“OK!” Harrington said. “Good!”
He is playful and giving. It's all good, always your last.
Darren Riehl/GOLF.com
Harrington notes, in this fun little 15-minute video tutorial, that the golf swing is basically the baseball swing, and in both you're swinging the bat at the ball. Harrington's father was a policeman who could play any sport. Harrington is the youngest of five boys. If only his humility was contagious. Golf needs more Padraig Harringtons. But there is only one, and we found him here.
At Troon, his Thursday-Friday tee times are very late/early. Phil Mickelson is threesome ahead of him and Darren Clarke is ahead of Mickelson. Three Open winners in their 50s, all in a row. Clark won the 2022 Senior Open. Mickelson has yet to play in one. Harrington wouldn't miss it. He likes to play tournament golf. He likes to talk about swing. He likes to teach the game, which means helping you realize that, to some important degree, you have to test yourself. There will be big winners in the future who unlock some of the game's mysteries, as Clarke and Harrington and Mickelson did. But not all are so many. It is the root of Harrington's greatest appeal. Add that to this: At the age of 20, the son of a Garda officer and boxer thought he would become an auditor.
He never became an accountant. Two years after the death of his father, after whom he was named, Padraig Harrington continued to play in the finals: 2007 British Open, 2008 British Open, 2008 PGA Championship. Those three wins alone made him a Hall of Famer, but there was more to come.
My partner Darren Riehl and I saw Harrington, along with four freshmen of varying abilities, at the senior tour event, Dick's Sporting Goods Open, at the public course, En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, about a week after the Hall of Fame his. induction. You could warm up a slice of pizza in the driveway, it was a very hot day. If Harrington missed a dessert course last month it didn't show. He hit everywhere on the map, but also above, below and near the trees. (The course has a lot of trees.) He got mad at Darren and me – or maybe I should say me – for making him miss the best food truck with our endless questions and taking notes. I'd bet on him shooting 216 or better, even with a three-round tournament. He shot 15 under with one shot. Three trips to Endicott. Three victories.
I told Harrington that I could draw a straight line from Lee Trevino to Nick Price to him, to understand the game, play it at the highest level, have the ability to teach it in terms that anyone can understand. He liked that. He told us he likes the pro-ams, that the pros help him with his golf. You can get more than a taste of all that, here on this one GOLF Originals presentation. You want to be better, right? Paddy is here to help, without getting all warm and fuzzy about it.
What a relief.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at [email protected]
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