Last Sunday Padraig Harrington ended a seven year barren spell by overcoming American rookie Daniel Berger in a play-off to win this year’s Honda Classic at PGA National.
The former world number two slipped to 297th in the world before the event in Florida, but the win takes Harrington to world number 82, and gets him an invite back to the Masters after sitting it out in 2014.
“I just got very intolerant of my mental game, my focus,” said the 2007 and 2008 Open champion, who has had wins in Asia and Ireland since his last major title.
“It was all - never swing related, all focus related, and I just got frustrated with it and found it very hard to really separate from the bad shots.
“In terms of playing, it was disappointing. I had the yips in 2012. I had my best ball-striking year ever in 2012, in terms of the stats, but I had the yips that year.
Harrington, an inveterate tinkerer with his golf swing, is known to use a variety of training aids to practise, and at PGA National he employed a Happy Gilmore-inspired routine, stepping through the shot on his practice swing in similar fashion to the film character.
“It might not be the drill for somebody else, but for me it gets the club down and in front of me,” said Harrington, who has been working with renowned mental coach Bob Rotella.
Onwards and upwards for Harrington.
Rory’s Rise v Tiger’s Trip Since bursting on the scene with a scintillating Masters victory in 1997 the talk has all been about ‘when’ not ‘if’ Tiger Woods would break Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 Major wins.
However, with Tiger’s latest injury setback keeping him out indefinitely, it appears that his hopes of winning another five Majors to beat Jack’s record are fading fast. Not to worry, we have a ready made replacement to take up the mantle in Rory McIlroy who is already treading the path set by Tiger and Jack, joining them on the very short list of golfers to win four Majors before their 25th birthday.
Let’s look a little closer at that list though as it’s not the number of Majors won that really puts Rory on that path to greatness, it’s the way he won them, breaking records as he did it. Take his first Major, the 2011 US Open, which he won by eight shots – his score of 16-under-par was a US Open record…he was aged just 22 at the time. His second, the 2012 USPGA Championship he also won by eight shots – a record margin for that tournament…he was just 23 this time.
While last year’s Open Championship victory at Royal Liverpool meant that he became the first player from Europe to win three different Majors. This year things already look great for the young Northern Irishman and ominous for the rest of the golfing world – ranked number one in the world he has already won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and was runner up at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on the European Tour.
It’s sure to be another golden year for golf’s new golden boy.
Ping’s new G30 range now in store - Book your Demo Today For more information on Custom Fitting sessions and all the new golfing products for 2015 call The Pro Shop at Enniskillen Golf Club on 028 66325250 or check www.thegolfcabin.co.uk.
Book yourself a lesson on our new GC2 Simulator-build a programme to help your game using the latest technology.
Liam Mc Cool PGA Golf Professional Enniskillen Golf Club Last Sunday Padraig Harrington ended a seven year barren spell by overcoming American rookie Daniel Berger in a play-off to win this year’s Honda Classic at PGA National.
The former world number two slipped to 297th in the world before the event in Florida, but the win takes Harrington to world number 82, and gets him an invite back to the Masters after sitting it out in 2014.
“I just got very intolerant of my mental game, my focus,” said the 2007 and 2008 Open champion, who has had wins in Asia and Ireland since his last major title.
“It was all - never swing related, all focus related, and I just got frustrated with it and found it very hard to really separate from the bad shots.
“In terms of playing, it was disappointing. I had the yips in 2012. I had my best ball-striking year ever in 2012, in terms of the stats, but I had the yips that year.
Harrington, an inveterate tinkerer with his golf swing, is known to use a variety of training aids to practise, and at PGA National he employed a Happy Gilmore-inspired routine, stepping through the shot on his practice swing in similar fashion to the film character.
“It might not be the drill for somebody else, but for me it gets the club down and in front of me,” said Harrington, who has been working with renowned mental coach Bob Rotella.
Onwards and upwards for Harrington.
Rory’s Rise v Tiger’s Trip Since bursting on the scene with a scintillating Masters victory in 1997 the talk has all been about ‘when’ not ‘if’ Tiger Woods would break Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 Major wins.
However, with Tiger’s latest injury setback keeping him out indefinitely, it appears that his hopes of winning another five Majors to beat Jack’s record are fading fast. Not to worry, we have a ready made replacement to take up the mantle in Rory McIlroy who is already treading the path set by Tiger and Jack, joining them on the very short list of golfers to win four Majors before their 25th birthday.
Let’s look a little closer at that list though as it’s not the number of Majors won that really puts Rory on that path to greatness, it’s the way he won them, breaking records as he did it. Take his first Major, the 2011 US Open, which he won by eight shots – his score of 16-under-par was a US Open record…he was aged just 22 at the time. His second, the 2012 USPGA Championship he also won by eight shots – a record margin for that tournament…he was just 23 this time.
While last year’s Open Championship victory at Royal Liverpool meant that he became the first player from Europe to win three different Majors. This year things already look great for the young Northern Irishman and ominous for the rest of the golfing world – ranked number one in the world he has already won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and was runner up at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on the European Tour.
It’s sure to be another golden year for golf’s new golden boy.
Ping’s new G30 range now in store - Book your Demo Today For more information on Custom Fitting sessions and all the new golfing products for 2015 call The Pro Shop at Enniskillen Golf Club on 028 66325250 or check www.thegolfcabin.co.uk.
Book yourself a lesson on our new GC2 Simulator-build a programme to help your game using the latest technology.
Liam Mc Cool PGA Golf Professional Enniskillen Golf Club
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