‘Confident and cocky’: Padraig Harrington fingers strange culprit for major collapse

In his lengthy pro golf career, Padraig Harrington has done a lot of winning. Especially at the majors. But Harrington had another major win slip through his grasp on Sunday, when a late collapse cost him the 2025 Senior PGA Championship.

But the Hall of Famer, who won three regular men’s major championships, didn’t blame his meltdown on nerves. Quite the opposite. He instead pointed the finger at a more surprising source: overconfidence.

Angel Cabrera steals Senior PGA from Harrington

With three holes left to play on Sunday at Senior PGA host course Congressional Country Club, Harrington found himself with a two-shot lead.

He’d just worked around a bizarre rules situation at the 14th green, where bird droppings interfered with his putting line, only to drain the 30-footer for birdie.

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At that point, Harrington was seven under on the day and had reached 10 under for the tournament.

Then, disaster struck. Harrington hit a “big hook” off the 15th tee into deep rough, then required multiple shots to escape, resulting in a tournament-changing double bogey to lose sole possession of the lead.

A short missed putt on the final hole gave him a closing bogey to drop to seven under. Finishing early, Harrington still had a chance at that point.

But Cabrera, fresh off his first senior major win at the 2025 Regions Tradition, had eyes on back-to-back titles. Cabrera birdied 11 to reach eight under, then 15 to reach nine under.

After that, all it took for Cabrera to take home the trophy was an easy bogey-5 at the 18th. Harrington was one shot short of playoff, and instead was left with a major missed opportunity.

What caused Padraig Harrington’s Senior PGA stumble

So what happened to Harrington on those final holes? After his round, he explained that a long-running issue with overconfidence on the course was to blame.

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“You know, I’ve had a lifelong problem with getting confident and cocky and I did on the 15 tee box it was such a simple tee shot. 5-wood, a little draw down there, and I just totally didn’t get into it enough and then panicked at the last moment and hit a big hook,” Harrington said on Sunday evening.

He continued his reasoning with another surprising claim: that if the shot on 15 had been much harder, he would have had an easier time managing it.

“It’s always plagued me my whole life since I’ve been a kid. Just get over confident and just don’t. I’d be much better off if I got to the 15th hole and there was water everywhere. Probably would’ve done a better job,” Harrington revealed. “I just sometimes just — it follows me around. I can get overconfident.”

He then shared an anecdote from his time as a junior golfer to underline his point.

“I lost a tournament when I was 18 years of age back… the Irish Youth and I did the exact same thing. Two ahead with three to play and relaxed. I’m much better off in with nerves and tension. I was just relaxed on 15 and then I did it on 18 tee.”

Harrington summarized his theory by saying that for him, doubt is ultimately a good thing for his golf game.

“If you start off with doubt, when you feel doubt over the ball it doesn’t feel so bad,” Harrington explained. “If you start off confident then you feel doubt it’s like a blowup. So, yeah, so I was just too confident. Happens.”

Despite this stinging loss, Harrington has experienced a lot of success on the senior circuit. He debuted on the PGA Tour Champions in style, winning the 2022 U.S. Senior Open, and he’s collected eight additional senior wins since then.

The Senior PGA has been less kind to him, though. This week’s disappointing finish was his second runner-up at the event, having lost to Steve Stricker in a playoff at the 2023 Senior PGA.