Padraig Harrington.....2015 Honda Classic Champion

rednik

It's hard to watch him like that, but I am sticking with him but at this stage I have nothing left to cross.:D

Benicetomonty

Also have to comment on Harrington's attire, I'm afraid; granted it's way off the point and shouldn't have anything to do with the quality of his golf but I firmly believe your appearance can have an effect on how your opponent approaches a game with youe, particularly in match-play.

Tiger's red Sunday shirt in his hey-day proves this, and plenty of other players have similar habits that come across in their clothing or appearance. Look at Seve's blue, or Duval's shades or even Ryan Moore's/ Ian Poulter's unique dress sense. Even though the opponent is used to it and expects it, I believe it just adds an extra dimension to the player's aura, imo, a sense of "Here's Tiger Woods, red shirt and all, this is the real deal here.."; it just gives the guy something else to think about.

Harrington has never been at the top of the fashion stakes; his tendency to wear wear horribly coordinated hats (with his fringe down no less :rolleyes:) and the occasional dodgy shirt have prevented him from ever developing the kind of aura he really should have as a three time major winner, but last night he looked dreadful. It's a good job he was playing with an impeccably turned out McDowell imo, gives Kartel a lot more credibility for being able to dress their athletes than Harrington does.

My two cents

FixdePitchmark

Benicetomonty wrote: »

Also have to comment on Harrington's attire, I'm afraid; granted it's way off the point and shouldn't have anything to do with the quality of his golf but I firmly believe your appearance can have an effect on how your opponent approaches a game with youe, particularly in match-play.

Tiger's red Sunday shirt in his hey-day proves this, and plenty of other players have similar habits that come across in their clothing or appearance. Look at Seve's blue, or Duval's shades or even Ryan Moore's/ Ian Poulter's unique dress sense. Even though the opponent is used to it and expects it, I believe it just adds an extra dimension to the player's aura, imo, a sense of "Here's Tiger Woods, red shirt and all, this is the real deal here.."; it just gives the guy something else to think about.

Harrington has never been at the top of the fashion stakes; his tendency to wear wear horribly coordinated hats (with his fringe down no less :rolleyes:) and the occasional dodgy shirt have prevented him from ever developing the kind of aura he really should have as a three time major winner, but last night he looked dreadful. It's a good job he was playing with an impeccably turned out McDowell imo, gives Kartel a lot more credibility for being able to dress their athletes than Harrington does.

My two cents

I'd rather have 3 majors than dress like Ryan Moore.

Benicetomonty

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

I'd rather have 3 majors than dress like Ryan Moore.

And Id rather have 14 than 3 Equally as much beside the point

FixdePitchmark

Benicetomonty wrote: »

And Id rather have 14 than 3 Equally as much beside the point

It becomes bull**** too. Look at Fowler, poulter etc. A hindrance , clothing means nothing to golf. IMO.

Duval looked like a fool hacking it around with shades. When his form fell off.

charlieIRL

jeasuz, will we get Gok Won to dress PH for the next event??!! He'll win all around him then.

And the red laces.......they are to support the Special Olympics "Wear the Laces" awareness campaign.

In his capacity as a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics, Padraig will show his support for Special Olympic athletes by wearing some very special shoe laces at The Players Championship at in TPC Sawgrass this month. Padraig will wear the distinctive Special Olympics emblazoned red shoe laces to send a message of respect, acceptance and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities to the millions of golf fans across the world who will tune into one of the biggest tournaments on the golfing calendar.

FixdePitchmark

I think last night is a great example, talent/will to win, won out. Not Nike / image bull****.

PARlance

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

I think last night is a great example, talent/will to win, won out. Not Nike / image bull****.

As the ancient Greek philosopher Sprités used to say!

"Image is nothing, thirst is everything, obey your thirst"

charlieIRL

ajcurry123 wrote: »

As the ancient Greek philosopher Sprités used to say!

"Image is nothing, thirst is everything, obey your thirst"

was that not Arthur Giunness who said that?!!

Benicetomonty

Im aware of why Harro wears the laces, thats why I didnt mention them. Im all for the occasional quirk that has to do with a good cause or a sponsor commitment, like taylor mades 'whiteout' at Kapalua last year. Otherwise, I would appear to be in the minority in belief that your presentation on the course can have an effect on your opponent. It shouldnt, but it does. Normans hat and Payne Stewarts knickers another 2 examples; when you remember all the incredible things these guys did on the course, the ever-present accessories and/or colours add an extra layer (excuse pun) to the aura of truly iconic players. Imho

PARlance

charlieIRL wrote: »

was that not Arthur Giunness who said that?!!

Nope, his was
"De da, de de de de de de da, de de de..."

Johnny_Fontane

his swing really looked ropey last night, all these terrible looking practice swings and then a really glitchy quick swing with some nutty follow through.

That said, he should some real bottle in the middle of the round to come back, with some great golf. His approach on 16 and drive off 18 was poor, but thats golf.

I'm not generally the most pro harrington person here, but the fact that he is milling the ball a mile and finished in the top 10 earlier in the season, means in my mind, that he is in probably better shape than the last couple of seasons.

being beaten in the first round of the matchplay, is not ideal, but its a bit of a lottery anyways and none of the beaten guys will worry too much about it at all.

BoardsMember

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

the fact that he is milling the ball a mile and finished in the top 10 earlier in the season, means in my mind, that he is in probably better shape than the last couple of seasons.

I agree, am not going to write PH off yet

abff

Today's results went quite well for Padraig and he still has a good chance of being in the top 50 on Monday and qualifying for Doral.

After he lost yesterday and Noren won, he moved behind Noren in the rankings. However, because Toms and Bjorn also lost in the first round, he moved ahead of them. This put him potentially in 49th place, depending on how those behind him in the rankings who won yesterday did today.

The good news is that 5 of the 7 lost. The bad news is that Tim Clark won and will definitely move ahead of Padraig in the rankings. The only other player who has a chance of passing him is Shane Lowry. Shane needs to win both his matches tomorrow in order to pass Padraig, so it's all to play for.

As a fan of both, it leaves me somewhat conflicted.

abff

abff wrote: »

Shane needs to win both his matches tomorrow in order to pass Padraig, so it's all to play for.

As a fan of both, it leaves me somewhat conflicted.

As I have been following Padraig since he first turned pro, I have to admit that my preference would be for him to make Doral. The ideal solution would be for Shane to get into next week's tournament and play well enough to make the following week's top 50 so that they can both play Doral.

Howjoe1

abff wrote: »

As I have been following Padraig since he first turned pro, I have to admit that my preference would be for him to make Doral. The ideal solutyion would be for Shane to get into next week's tournament and play well enough to make the following week's top 50 so that they can both play Doral.

Paddy's all washed up and ready for the seniors tour. Come on Shane !!!

Speak Now

Howjoe1 wrote: »

Paddy's all washed up and ready for the seniors tour. Come on Shane !!!

Sure he might as well keep playing the main tours the next 8 or 9 years to keep fit.
Looks like he's crept into the WGC in 2 weeks with Shane gone out of matchplay.

abff

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

Looks like he's crept into the WGC in 2 weeks with Shane gone out of matchplay.

Let's hope he surprises all the doubters in two weeks time.

PRAF

From PHs website: "I had hit the ball fine but putted terribly. I struggled to trust my lines and as a result I ended up hitting some weak putts"

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, he can be a funny fish sometimes. I've heard countless times from lots of golfers and golf coaches (most notably Bob Rotella) that one of the most important things about putting is to commit to your line. He's basically saying that he didn't trust his line, was unsure about the putt, and ended up hitting weak putts. Surely that's a cardinal sin for any pro and needs to be sortedn out ASAP.

Seems to be a feature of Harrington in recent years. He is probably too analytical and has too many thoughts on his mind. Would love to see him get back to a more simple routine. A trip to see Dave Stockton would probably suit Harro down to the ground. Stockton would get all of his gadgets and gismos and throw em in the bin. He also wouldn't allow him any practice putts. He'd just have to take aim and hit his putts. End of story. If they go in, great, if not try again. Keep it simple stupid!

soundsham

Nothing about trying the beat the cover off the ball or smashing it 50 yds right of the last fairway .... mental man

abff

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Padraig challenges in Doral in two weeks time. The one thing he hasn't had a lot of in recent years is luck and, let's face it, he is really lucky to have qualified for Doral. The last time he had similar luck was the Grand Slam of Golf last October and he made the most of that. So who knows? Maybe lightning will strike twice?

JohnnyLocke

abff wrote: »

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Padraig challenges in Doral in two weeks time. The one thing he hasn't had a lot of in recent years is luck and, let's face it, he is really lucky to have qualified for Doral. The last time he had similar luck was the Grand Slam of Golf last October and he made the most of that. So who knows? Maybe lightning will strike twice?

Good point. However watching that matchplay format you can really get a look at everyone's game in a bit more detail under pressure. Watching the likes of poulter gmac day Mahan kuchar and the likes they all seem very comfortable about their game and you hardly ever see the bogeys coming. With Harrington your nearly hoping he gets through each round without a few disasters. There's no comfort watching him at all.

The way the swing looks in general is very mechanical yet there is no balance to it. He's nearly falling over sometimes and the putting is edge of the seat stuff for us watching him no matter how far out it is. I can't see him challenging at Doral in fact the only events I see him having any impact on are the majors. Which is crazy when you think about it. The difficulty of them splits the field in half and he will always be in the good half through his ability to grind out a score. I hope I'm wrong.

AloKildare

abff wrote: »

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Padraig challenges in Doral in two weeks time. The one thing he hasn't had a lot of in recent years is luck and, let's face it, he is really lucky to have qualified for Doral. The last time he had similar luck was the Grand Slam of Golf last October and he made the most of that. So who knows? Maybe lightning will strike twice?

I have to say I fancy Padraig this week, not necessarily winning but I think he is a good E/W bet @ 80-1.
He generally plays well after a week or two off and his week off last week was badly needed!! I think he will return refreshed this week and hopefully putting better.
By looking at his record around the TPC Blue Monster at Doral he seems to like it:

2005 Ford Championship - T52
2006 Ford Championship - T26
2007 WGC-CA Championship - T19
2009 WGC-CA Championship - T20
2010 WGC-CA Championship - T3
2011 WGC-Cadillac Championship - T10

All in all he has a steady run of results around there and he seems to know his way around, what is, a difficult enough golf course.

Here's hoping he doesn't let me down now!!!!

Speak Now

Wearing glasses in competition for the first time this week!

PRAF

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

Wearing glasses in competition for the first time this week!

What about the lazer eye surgery? Must'nt have worked for him!

ssbob

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

Wearing glasses in competition for the first time this week!

Was that just for practice, I would imagine, he surely has contact lenses!

soundsham

ssbob wrote: »

Was that just for practice, I would imagine, he surely has contact lenses!

Wearing glasses in competition
He's also wearing a hat in practise to see which side of his brain is working when he's taking shots
I kid you not
I had to check if it was April 1st today

FixdePitchmark

Got to love him.

Looks like Tom Kite 78.

Speak Now

PRAF wrote: »

What about the lazer eye surgery? Must'nt have worked for him!

I dont know anything about laser eye surgery but i assume it doesn't last forever. Would it be like getting older and needing stronger glasses
Maybe it worked in the day but Paddys gone over the 40 now

Speak Now

ssbob wrote: »

Was that just for practice, I would imagine, he surely has contact lenses!

Probably the new gimmick to give him confidence over his putting lines :cool: