Harrington: How far can he go?

Mister Sifter

Padraig Harrington that is... i think the win on Sunday will really prove to be a huge kick-on point for him. Winning last year he proved a hell of lot to himself and the rest of the world and it was undoubtedly a major breakthrough for him.

He still seemed to have a bit of a weight on his shoulders though. I reckon that it will be gone now though and that he can really kick on. I wouldn't be surprised if he went on and won another handful of majors over the next 4-5 years or so. And a whole lot more too.

fred funk }{

I think he defo has another few Majors in him. I would really love him to win the Masters. He's in a new league now because he has won two Majors, a lot of players have won one but to win two in a huge step up.

He's third in the world ranking now too which is an achievement by its self.

madds

Of the other Majors he has yet to win, I think Harrington's best chance is the US Open. It's not that he can't or won't either the Masters or USPGA, but US Open courses are generally the toughest of all the Majors courses (except when the wind blows a gale at the British Open as we saw in Birkdale), and Padraig excels when the going gets tough. His short game really impressed me last weekend, and that's one area, coupled with straight hitting and a patient approach that would see him excel on a US Open type course IMO.

PhilipMarlowe

I usually subscribe to the theory that to win a major, and particularly majors, you need to be knocking on the door for a few times before you make the breakthrough. Of course there are always winners that come out of the blue (can you say Rich Beem?)

Harrington's record to date in majors is pretty impressive in itself, even without the wins...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pádraig_Harrington#Major_championships
(the yellow boxes on that link are top 10's)
It's interesting that he was 5th at The Open twice, 5th at The Masters twice and 5th at The US Open twice.

I believe that he will push on from here because of the professionalism in him and the head he has on him...

copacetic

When we were all looking at his Ryder cup chances, it stood out that he was not playing in many tournaments, even if it was putting his Ryder chances at risk. He appears to have now targetted only the big ones that suit him and ones that fit into preparing for them. Having won the Open twice I think he has a great chance of winning 2 or 3 more majors over the next 2-3 years with this attitude.

pd101

I think he can definitely win more major tournaments. He seemed to focus more on winning the British Open recently and has won it twice. Who knows what will happen when he focus's more on the American ones.

I would love to see him and Tiger battle it out in the last group on a Sunday in Augusta.

JerryHandbag

I was delighted this time last year when we finally had an irish major winner, but he looks as though hes moved to different level altogether now...the manner in which he closed out the tournament on sunday was calculated and ruthless, shades of Tiger almost! I think if he stays fit and focused, which Im sure he will, then a US Open is definitely on the cards. If he does that then his only real goal left to achieve might be to get to world no.1 but Im not sure if thats realistic in the tiger era.....but who knows, he might not be the same player when he comes back from surgery and might stop winning majors....hopefully!

One Cold Hand

Only 16 to go til he catches Jack!

Interesting article here.

"Last year it was far too much far too quickly - I don't think it's going to be like that this year," he added.

"It was a blur. This is more satisfying, but I don't believe I'm going to be as mentally hit.

"It's a more solid win and the high isn't the same. I'm looking forward to the PGA - I'll have to be disciplined in some areas, but I should be ready."

Hopefully he can kick on and win a few more...

Mister Sifter

Quite interesting to read that alot of his sponsorships are up at the end of this year. Wilson is one of them. I'd say he'll be able to command huge fees now and will have all the big names lining up.

Oceanico must be pretty happy too, they took out a one week sponsorship on his hat last week.

copacetic

interesting link cold hand, some group of european 2 or more major winners that H is in now:

Harrington is only the seventh European player in the modern era to have won two or more majors, following Tony Jacklin (two), Seve Ballesteros (five), Sandy Lyle (two), Nick Faldo (six), Bernhard Langer (two) and Jose Maria Olazabal (two).

It does strike me that to really make it big worldwide, he will have to win one of the American majors. They don't put the same emphasis on the open that we go.

JerryHandbag

copacetic wrote: »

It does strike me that to really make it big worldwide, he will have to win one of the American majors. They don't put the same emphasis on the open that we go.

I agree, the americans will really see him as world class if he wins a US Open/PGA/MAsters, even more so with the fact that European golfers havent won the US Open or PGA since donkeys yrs ago, and Olazabal was last to win Masters, '99 I think.