Inspiring Golf

Padraig Harrington is looking to "threepeat" at Turnberry. In fact, he was recently quoted as saying, "when conditions are easy, everyone has a chance. It plays to my advantage when the wind starts to blow."

His last four worldwide tournaments were:


Open de France - 72, 75 - +5 - Missed Cut


U.S. Open - 76, 76 - +12 - Missed Cut


St. Jude - 72, 72 - +4 - Missed Cut


Memorial - 75, 77 - +8 - Missed Cut


That's actually +29 for his last four tournaments.


The previous three were:


Irish Open - 73, 68 - Missed Cut


Players - 72, 72, 74, 72 - T49


Quail Hollow - 73, 75 - Missed Cut



I think Harrington is a competitor and particularly when it comes to his pride when competing for the British Open. For that reason alone I think he'll put together whatever it takes to make the cut. The problem is his well-chronicled constant tinkering and remake of his swing and particularly this year. Long-time swing coach Bob

Torrence has him on the remake trying to eliminate a slight loop in his down swing so as to simplify his motion and make him more mechanical, particularly when trying to endure the stress of winning a major.

Padraig was Player of the Year last year after winning back-to-back majors at the British Open and PGA. While it was a year in which Tiger only participated about the first half, Harrington was still the best of the rest. Or was he? His driving accuracy was 59.4% which placed him at the 156th position while his GIR was only 60.7% or 186th place. With those competition stats it's not hard to see why he felt he needed a major swing improvement to simplify it to a more mechanical state. Oh, in case you're wondering how he wins with such lousy driving and GIR stats, he's a tremendous putter. He did finish 2nd in putts per round in 2008 and is T52 in 2009.

He definitely has not mastered the swing simplification that Torrence has been working on with him as of yet. Again, you can see it in his 2009 stats as his driving accuracy is actually worse at 52.8% or 176th of Tour players and his GIR is at 60.06% or 179th place. Time will tell if he can successfully adjust his swing. However, if the wind is blowing at Turnberry and everyone has poor accuracy stats, I like Padraig's chances of being atop the leader board regardless of the effective of the swing changes.