Pádraig Harrington is determined to spend a week luxuriating in winning the Honda Classic, his first victory in America since 2008 when claiming the US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, a sixth in total on the US PGA Tour and the second time he has prevailed in this particular event, matching his achievement of 2005.
He won't initially dwell on the ramifications of victory; the €983,350 winner's cheque, the 500 FedEx points, the jump in world ranking from 297th to 82nd, the exemption (two and a half years from now) to play on the US Tour having lost his card there in 2013, the invitation to the US Masters in Augusta next month for the first time since he missed the cut there two years ago and arguably most important the vindication of all the work he's put in.
Fightback
It serves to mitigate the mental and physical trauma of the past few years where he has blocked his own progress, fighting inner demons and the putting yips to try and claw his way back closer to the golfer who won three Majors, two British Opens (2007, 2008) and a US PGA Championship.
His sentiments in the immediate aftermath of victory were understandable. “You don’t win that often so make sure you enjoy it when you do. That’s where I am at, at the moment. I never considered all day how important this win is to me. I got a sponsors invite this week. That (victory) changes things for the guts of three years. I have a Masters invite. There are lots of things that this (victory) does but I never considered that all day. I was very much in the moment, which is good.
“The big advantage for me was the fact we are called off after seven holes on Sunday. Things were not going well. I knew that coming back out on Monday, I was the challenger. The other guys were leading.”
“I have got into contention four times since 2008 and won four times. A lot of people who win majors look back and try and live up to them, play up to them. I got very intolerant of my mental game my focus. It was never swing related.
“I got frustrated. I had the yips in 2012. I had my best ball-striking year ever in 2012 in terms of the stats but had the yips. When you get things like that you don’t know what to do. You try and grind your way through it. There were low points in those years. In 2008 and 2009 I was very much in the penthouse; I wasn’t quite down to the doghouse (since then at times) but not far away from it.”
Character
The character he demonstrated in making that 15-foot putt on the home green in regulation play gave way to a kind of giddy relief when it came to the clubhouse, something he knew he made to adjust after playing the 18th again in the first playoff hole. “I felt in the first playoff hole I played it like I was just happy to be there. On the second playoff hole (the 17th) I had changed my mindset. I felt like I got a second chance coming to the 17th. Being first up I couldn’t afford to bale out; I had to hit the shot. Three quarter five iron both times.
“Sometimes I struggle when I have a lead. I am trying not to bale out on 17 when I was playing it (in regulation), making sure not to hit it left and I did make a bad swing. So I am a better player when I have a lot of clarity so when I came back to it in real time (playoff) I had to hit the shot. There was no choice. When my back is to the wall I tend to hit the shot. You could see that for the last nine holes.
“When I got to nine under par [after two rounds] I should have been able to go away from the field at that stage but I didn’t in that situation. Hopefully going forward I have picked up something in my game. Last Saturday at Riviera I had a tough day at the course and players were too tired to practice I went down and I found something.”
He pointed to the positives he took from his win in the Bank Bri Indonesia Open on the Asian tour in his last start of 2014. “I won just five tournaments ago in Indonesia, I won the Grand Slam event. There was a time I used to finish second a lot, now I don’t get myself into position as much. It was all about getting into contention on the last nine holes.”
