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Padraig Harrington.....2015 Honda Classic Champion
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I find the ridiculous 'told ya so/where are the doubters now? etc etc' comments I've read here and elsewhere (they're all over Twitter) completely absurd.
I'm a huge golf fan and am unashamedly biased towards the Irish golfers. This, naturally, means I'm a big fan of Padraig... but this win, coming seven years after his last significant Tour win, doesn't justify the ludicrous things Padraig has done to his career over those past seven years.
The fact is, Padraig reached the top of the mountain, was top-three in the world with the game at his feet... then he dismantled his game and, to a large extent, threw his career away.
I hope he's back. I'm a huge fan, I love his humour and his 'weirdness'... but Monday's win comes with a tinge of sadness in a way because it's evidence of what could have been over these past seven years... the funny thing is, despite all the changes he made (losing weight, intentionally putting on weight, his famous '12 swing thoughts' etc), a friend of mine said to be on Monday - and he is dead right - that his swing right now looks so close to his double-Major-winning 2008 swing... so what was the point? He was already one of the world's best, there was no 'next level' to get to. You were there, Padraig!
Anyhoo, with that all out of the way... that was just fantastic viewing on Monday. I was exhausted after it all!
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Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »Today's won gets him The Masters, the Players, the Bridgestone Invitational and most likely the HSBC Champions as well. Oh and exempt on PGA until end of 2017 season
I just had a look at the qualification criteria for the HSBC. Apart from the winners of the majors, the Players and the WGCs, it includes the winners of the 20 top rated (in world ranking points) PGA Tour events. At 60 points for the winner, the Honda Classic was the fifth highest ranked tournament on the PGA Tour last year (apart from the majors, etc.) and the second highest excluding the play offs.
It has the same value this year and is therefore likely to have a similar overall position in the rankings, so Padraig has definitely qualified for the HSBC.0 -
I find the ridiculous 'told ya so/where are the doubters now? etc etc' comments I've read here and elsewhere (they're all over Twitter) completely absurd.
I'm a huge golf fan and am unashamedly biased towards the Irish golfers. This, naturally, means I'm a big fan of Padraig... but this win, coming seven years after his last significant Tour win, doesn't justify the ludicrous things Padraig has done to his career over those past seven years.
The fact is, Padraig reached the top of the mountain, was top-three in the world with the game at his feet... then he dismantled his game and, to a large extent, threw his career away.
I hope he's back. I'm a huge fan, I love his humour and his 'weirdness'... but Monday's win comes with a tinge of sadness in a way because it's evidence of what could have been over these past seven years... the funny thing is, despite all the changes he made (losing weight, intentionally putting on weight, his famous '12 swing thoughts' etc), a friend of mine said to be on Monday - and he is dead right - that his swing right now looks so close to his double-Major-winning 2008 swing... so what was the point? He was already one of the world's best, there was no 'next level' to get to. You were there, Padraig!
Anyhoo, with that all out of the way... that was just fantastic viewing on Monday. I was exhausted after it all!
I think that's kinda harsh and shows a lack of understanding of golf. It's a nice idea to think that he had won 3 majors and could just decide to swing the exact same way forever and win loads more, but in reality that is just not possible.
For some golfers, they can maintain the same basic swing throughout their careers, but for most, it's a case of constantly fighting fires. Little flaws develop and little adjustments are required, and swings evolve and change over time. Harrington himself said recently that he used to think he could find "the swing" or "the fix", but after many years he came to realise that there will always be something wrong, and it's a matter of accepting that and rolling with it.
Harrington may be a little bit more neurotic than most when it comes to chopping and changing, or maybe he just talks more openly about it than the rest.
Also, you gotta wonder that if he wasn't that ultra-competitive, manic, neurotic, perfectionist, never happy with his game, always wanting to improve, would he have won those 3 majors in the first place. If we can't love him when he's at his worst, we don't deserve him at his best. I think Marilyn Monroe said something like that. So it must be true.0 -
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I find the ridiculous 'told ya so/where are the doubters now? etc etc' comments I've read here and elsewhere (they're all over Twitter) completely absurd.
I'm a huge golf fan and am unashamedly biased towards the Irish golfers. This, naturally, means I'm a big fan of Padraig... but this win, coming seven years after his last significant Tour win, doesn't justify the ludicrous things Padraig has done to his career over those past seven years.
The fact is, Padraig reached the top of the mountain, was top-three in the world with the game at his feet... then he dismantled his game and, to a large extent, threw his career away.
I hope he's back. I'm a huge fan, I love his humour and his 'weirdness'... but Monday's win comes with a tinge of sadness in a way because it's evidence of what could have been over these past seven years... the funny thing is, despite all the changes he made (losing weight, intentionally putting on weight, his famous '12 swing thoughts' etc), a friend of mine said to be on Monday - and he is dead right - that his swing right now looks so close to his double-Major-winning 2008 swing... so what was the point? He was already one of the world's best, there was no 'next level' to get to. You were there, Padraig!
Anyhoo, with that all out of the way... that was just fantastic viewing on Monday. I was exhausted after it all!
What ludicrous things has he done? He's made changes to his swing. Were these ludicrous? Did he dismantle is game? What changes did he make? Were they massive or tiny? What were they?
I think an awful lot of people talk a lot of nonsense about PH, on both sides of the divide of whether he was right/wrong to change things.
The swing looks the same to you and your friend? Well, to be honest, that means very little unless you know an awful lot about the technical elements of a golf swing. And if looks the same, is it the same? How come he's getting all this extra length. And if it looks the same, do you think he has changed it all the way back to where it was?0 -
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The fact is, Padraig reached the top of the mountain, was top-three in the world with the game at his feet... then he dismantled his game and, to a large extent, threw his career away.
a friend of mine said to be on Monday - and he is dead right - that his swing right now looks so close to his double-Major-winning 2008 swing... so what was the point?
Not this again. Not when he wins, please. So now its a case of "we were right, what was the point of him changing his game?"
As another poster mentioned, he changed his game to try to get better (which he has done for his whole career and will continue to do so). Your friend, who is "dead right" is in fact, flat out wrong. There are many different characteristics to his current swing to 2008. But rather than bore you with the details, think about this. Padraig has had his best statistical years in GIR and Driving Accuracy in the middle of his slump. This was as a result of the changes he was making. Last weekend Harrington was tied 1st in Strokes Gained Tee to Green. That was never a possibilty in 2008.....
In hindsight, its so easy to say "He ruined his career by changing" But, he always wants to get better. I'm the first man to say he's completely insane but we should never question or want him to do it any other way. He has given us unique memories no other sportsman in this country has before.0 -
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I find the ridiculous 'told ya so/where are the doubters now? etc etc' comments I've read here and elsewhere (they're all over Twitter) completely absurd.
I'm a huge golf fan and am unashamedly biased towards the Irish golfers. This, naturally, means I'm a big fan of Padraig... but this win, coming seven years after his last significant Tour win, doesn't justify the ludicrous things Padraig has done to his career over those past seven years.
The fact is, Padraig reached the top of the mountain, was top-three in the world with the game at his feet... then he dismantled his game and, to a large extent, threw his career away.
I hope he's back. I'm a huge fan, I love his humour and his 'weirdness'... but Monday's win comes with a tinge of sadness in a way because it's evidence of what could have been over these past seven years... the funny thing is, despite all the changes he made (losing weight, intentionally putting on weight, his famous '12 swing thoughts' etc), a friend of mine said to be on Monday - and he is dead right - that his swing right now looks so close to his double-Major-winning 2008 swing... so what was the point? He was already one of the world's best, there was no 'next level' to get to. You were there, Padraig!
Anyhoo, with that all out of the way... that was just fantastic viewing on Monday. I was exhausted after it all!
Gonna have to weigh in here on this one too....suggesting that paddy was nuts to dismantle his swing after winning 3 majors and that it ruined is career is just lazy analysis. What has been suggested here is that he felt he needed work on his swing so that he could compete and win more regularly. He obviously had a dominant tiger in his mind but obviously that never materialised and his plan to reconstruct with success didnt work out so lots think he was wrong to do so. Nonsense. I see no problem at all with his thought process at the time.
Lets compare it to the real working world. So you do well in your job and your current level of performance earns you a promotion to the next grade. What do you do now? Rest on your laurels and do the same thing that earned you the promotion in the 1st place? Eh wrong, unless youre happy to remain static in your career because what some dont realise is that the expectations of your superiors are now higher and the same level of performance that got you to the higher position won't be enough to take you to the next level of performance. You have to do something else to stand out from the crowd.
So lets apply that to paddy...he won 3 majors....fabulous achievement that most pros would bite their own hand off to even win the won....but maybe in his head, winning 3 majors just meant he moved up to the same grade as the likes of els,goosan and michaelson at the time....not bad company to be in...but there was another grade above (hell, with faldo on 6 you could argue there was another one in between of his peer or recent peer group) that with tiger at the time that he obviously felt he needed to do some more than he already had done in order to reach his level of competitiveness and win more majors.....
So for someone as driven and ambitious as paddy, it made perfect sense and who are we to suggest otherwise. People criticising the decision have the benefit of hindsight but i think he did the right thing at the time. Its not like anyone could every take the 3 majors away from him. He wanted to win more and thought this would give him the best chance.....fair play for having the balls to do it rather than rest on his laurels.....maybe he over did it? Probably.....but was he right do try? Yes, in my opinion....
Another point id like to make is that there seems to be an impression that he won his 3 majors, tampered with his swing, he turned to $hite and then 7 years later won in the honda and everything in the middle was muck....now ill admit that i dont know the exact point that he made a start on his swing changes but if you assume it was shortly after his 3rd major, then there were good periods between then and now.he just didnt win anything of note...After a relatively poor season in 2009, he came good for the fedex and burned it up in the play offs withiut actually winning anything and to the point where he had a chance going into the final tournament to win the 10M dollars. Also, im not sure which year it was, maybe 11, but he actually did reslly well in the majors and earned a place in the end of season shoot out with the other major winners as the best of the rest when (i think) someone either dropped out or there was a multiple major winner. Not sure which one it was but sure he only went and won it to earn a cool million dollars or so.....so there was plenty of decent, if inconsistent golf which is easy to forget sometimes with missed cut after missed cut and which came after his swing tampering.......0 -
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The fact is, Padraig reached the top of the mountain, was top-three in the world with the game at his feet... then he dismantled his game and, to a large extent, threw his career away.
that his swing right now looks so close to his double-Major-winning 2008 swing... so what was the point? He was already one of the world's best, there was no 'next level' to get to. You were there, Padraig!
I don't think he threw his career away at all... there isn't a golfer on tour that isn't trying to change or improve some aspect of his game. Harrington was never a long driver, when he changed his swing after 2008 his driving distance improved remarkably.
It's also worth remembering that he was struggling with the yips for quite some time...all these years with the atrocious putting he was doing and the knock on effect of it on his confidence was to a large extent what put his career on hold/in the shi*ter
I'm really delighted for him. 0
This discussion has been closed.
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