Padraig Harrington was one of the best golfers in the world in the late 200s and early 2010s.
The Irishman won three majors in a two-year period, going back-to-back at The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 while also picking off the 2008 PGA Championship. Harrington’s spot in the Official World Golf Rankings started to slide a bit in 2010, but he arrived at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional with unfettered belief that he was the best player on the planet and would soon bring home major championship no. 4.
But then-21-year-old Rory McIlroy had different plans. The rising Northern Irish star blew away the field that week at Congressional, finishing at 16-under-par while shooting the lowest 72-hole score (268) in U.S. Open history.
McIlroy’s performance devastated Harrington, shattering his view of where he stood in the professional ranks.
Rory McIlroy's masterclass at Congressional at just 21 was enough to shift three-time major winner and one of golf's mentally toughest players, @padraig_h, from a positive mindset to a negative one—altering the course of his career. pic.twitter.com/KudKC1x0Lb
— Cookie Jar Golf (@cookiejargolf) February 23, 2025
“Where I was broken, Rory broke me in 2011,” Harrington said on the latest episode of the Cookie Jar Golf Podcast. “[He] broke everybody, but I was the best player. That’s what I believed. So I’ve gone into Congressional. I played a practice round with Adam Scott on Wednesday. He came in and did an interview and told everybody to go home. He says, ‘You might as well go home. Padraig Harrington is winning this.’ I am, in my head, I am the best player. I’ve won three majors just recently. I’m in great form. I prepared right.
“I go into this tournament and Rory does something that I can’t compete with. Wipes the floor. Like we’re all the same. He’s just blown us all away. But that’s OK if I thought I could get better. That’s fine. So when Tiger was doing that in the early 2000s, I was only on my way up. This is me at my best and I don’t think I can compete with him. So the big difference, and it’s happened — name every player who has hit a peak — in 2008, I was not looking over my shoulder. I was only concerned about me. [From] 2011 onwards, I’m now thinking I’m not good enough. I need to be a better version of me in order to compete with Rory.”
Obviously this is all in hindsight but it fits the mould for nearly all golfers. They believe they have all the game to win, then a new kid arrives and they feel they have to be a different version of themselves to win now. Tiger did this to so many in the late 90s. https://t.co/yTFXvNoPCs
— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) February 23, 2025
Harrington finished in a tie for 45th that week at Congressional as McIlroy bulldozed the field for his first major title.
The Irishman struggled in the remaining two majors of the 2011 season but carded top-10s in both the 2012 Masters and 2012 U.S. Open. After the 2012 U.S. Open, Harrington wouldn’t record a top-10 in a major until the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
McIlroy, meanwhile, won another major in 2012 and two in 2014. The now-35-year-old has had several near misses since but is now in Year 11 of his major championship drought.
