At the end of the week at the ISPS Handa Senior Open, one name graced the top of the leaderboard: Padraig Harrington. The win was his second senior major title of the summer, and the third of his Champions Tour career.
“I know you were talking about how I won The Open, to win the Senior Open, there’s only five players, so you want to be in that category,” Harrington said. “I think they are the sort of things that you realize over the next couple of days, the significance of it. Right now I’m thrilled, euphoric, that I’ve gotten it done.”
With a final margin of three strokes over runners-up Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard, it would be fair to think that Harrington’s game was as dialed as it could be throughout the week. That assumption would prove to be woefully off base.
“I’m sure from the outside it looked very comfortable,” Harrington said. “But there was at times, there was a little bit of turmoil in my own head.”
Turmoil in the head during a major-winning performance? It’s actually not as rare as you may think. Recent major winners confirm as much.
Scottie Scheffler famously sobbed at his rental home in Augusta the morning of his maiden Masters victory, while Shane Lowry admitted he could hardly feel his hands on the 1st tee at Portrush in 2019. The difference between the pros and us is that they find ways to persevere through the self-doubt.
“I managed myself very well,” Hrrington said. “I tried to swing the smoothest, slowest I could all day. Just tried to really swing within myself. Just try to tone it down and as I said just get around it. I happen to play quite well as it turned out. I didn’t over think it when I was on the golf course. I hit some beautiful iron shots to start off.”
That smooth-swinging strategy worked wonders right off the bat. Harrington began the day by carding an eagle 3 on the opening hole, and added two more birdies (against one bogey) the rest of the front nine. From there, he needed just an even-par inward nine to post a final-round 67 and best the field by three shots.
“I was just trying to find a good mental thought,” he said. “Just got into a nice rhythm. Slowed everything down and it seemed to work nicely.”
