Pádraig Harrington is in an optimistic mood for a successful defence of his US PGA Championship title next week in Minnesota, despite his poor form so far this year. The Dubliner has struggled all season in terms of tournament scoring as he has sought to remodel his swing to improve on the form that landed three major victories in 2007 and 2008.
And despite his relinquishing of the Claret Jug at Turnberry last month after two years as Open champion, Harrington was in confident mood ahead of this week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Ohio’s Firestone Country Club and then next week’s US PGA at Hazeltine National.
“Very positive,” Harrington said when asked to assess his outlook heading into two big tournaments back-to-back.
“You know, it’s been an interesting year. I definitely found what I was looking for, and in that process I probably learned a lot more about my game than I ever could have wished to have learned.
“It’s been very, very constructive the last eight months, very positive going forward.
“(I am) pretty similar to where I was last year. You know what, up until The Open last year I suppose I hadn’t got the results I wanted, either.
“I was on a high at this time last year compared to this year. But three weeks earlier last year I wasn’t on a high going into The Open.
“I’m very positive about my golf and optimistic, but maybe not as much on a high as I was last year.”
Harrington said he was looking forward to this week’s event in Akron after taking time off following his tie for 65th at Turnberry.
“Obviously there’s an eye on next week being the PGA. This is a great week in terms of the golf course itself. It’s a good, tough challenge, and in itself it’s a great event, it’s great preparation for the PGA the following week.
“I’m very happy with the work I’ve been doing. Obviously it’s good to have a few weeks off where you can do that work, but I’m back out here to play.”
Harrington admitted that a by-product of his two weeks off since The Open had been a troublesome neck on his return to practice in Akron on Monday.
“It was all locked up, and I had some physio, but when I was hitting shots it kind of, sometimes it locks up.
“How I would explain it? It sort of had a twinge in it, so it inflamed, so I had to go and ice it and take some anti-inflammatories and get some treatment.
“Good time for it to happen on a Monday. That’s why I come in sometimes early. It wouldn’t have been a good thing to happen on Thursday morning or even Wednesday, but on Monday it poses no issue at all.”
