Tag: Padraig Harrington

Watch: Padraig Harrington hits incredible recovery shot from knees at Texas Children’s Houston Open

Always entertaining, Paddy.

HOUSTON — Padraig Harrington won last week’s Champions Tour event at the Hoag Classic in California. This week, the 52-year-old came to Memorial Park Golf Course to play on the PGA Tour at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

He’s already hit his best shot of the week, coming in the first round.

After his tee shot went miles left on the par-5 16th hole, Harrington had no choice but to get on his knees to attempt his second shot. And he did so successfully, hitting it back into the fairway.

He then found the fringe right of the green and was able to get up and in for par.

 

Always entertaining, Paddy.

Through 16 holes, the Irishman sat even par for the tournament.

Padraig Harrington survives two final-round double bogeys to win Hoag Classic Newport Beach

Harrington is now 3-for-3 in closing out 36-hole leads on the Champions tour.

Padraig Harrington was looking to go 3-for-3 in closing out 36-hole leads on the PGA Tour Champions on Sunday at the Hoag Classic Newport Beach.

He started the final round at 12 under, a shot ahead of Thongchai Jaidee, who shot a 62 on Friday. Harrington ran into a big trouble twice but rebounded both times.

Harrington’s first trip-up was a double-bogey on the par-3 fourth hole which was playing 140 yards Sunday. He had a second double bogey on the par-4 16th hole, and that one proved more costly as it dropped him to 12 under and out of the lead a shot back of Jaidee and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

On the 191-yard, par-3 17th, however, Harrington hit his ball pin high and then drained the putt for a bounce-back birdie to tie for the lead once again. On 18, Harrington curled one around seemlingly all sides of the cup before it dropped for a closing birdie, setting off an extended fist pump from the Irishman.

Harrington closed with a 2-under 69 to win for the seventh time in 37 starts on the senior circuit. Jaidee was solo second a shot back. Jimenez was solo third, two shots back. Stephen Ames was solo fourth at 10 under.

Defending tournament champion Ernie Els was tied for 33rd. Jim Furyk made his 2024 season debut after recovering from a back injury and also tied for 33rd. Fred Couples withdrew after nine holes during the second round.

The tour stays in southern California for the Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Until there’s a PGA Tour-LIV Golf resolution, Padraig Harrington suggests player transfers, outside teams in LIV events

“It doesn’t look like there will be any sort of golfing marriage in the near future,” said Harrington.

TUCSON, Ariz. — There appears to be no end in sight to the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift and this past weekend was just another example of the prolonged standoff.

It was one of the four weekends in 2024 where a LIV event overlapped a signature event. There are 12 times in all this year where the two leagues will intersect.

Scottie Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational – a PGA Tour signature event that took some criticism for only having 69 players – and banked $4 million.

Meanwhile, Abraham Ancer hoisted a trophy after winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong event and pocketed $4 million.

“It doesn’t look like there will be any sort of golfing marriage in the near future,” said Padraig Harrington ahead of the 2024 Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions, who had some general thoughts about what can be done in the meantime.

“Why not have it a little bit like the old European Tour-PGA Tour, where there’s a little bit of competition. Certainly it’s good for the fans when there’s rivalries.”

Harrington played both tours for several years. Nowadays he plays mostly on the Champions tour but does dabble in some PGA Tour events. He’s already played twice on the “regular” tour in 2024 and so he sees firsthand the fallout.

“I go back to the PGA Tour and I’m right in amongst it,” he said. “A lot of my friends went to LIV, so I also have a good few guys out there who I would be friendly with.

“So I can see both sides of it. You know, in the end of the day, I played the majority of my career when there was two strong tours and there was a bit of rivalry and a bit of competition, so I’m not, I wouldn’t be averse to that being in the future where there’s two tours and who doesn’t love a little bit of competition?”

It could be argued that it’s not really a competition. The PGA Tour is a league that had to make its own money to pay its bills, whereas LIV Golf has a seemingly endless cash stream from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund.

“I think the biggest thing going forward for the PGA Tour, there has to be some way of capping, you know, can’t just steal all our players,” he said. “Players will always make a choice individually what’s right for them, but I think the Tour has to, there’s very few businesses in this world where there isn’t some sort of a noncompete sort of clause.

But until things are sorted out, Harrington pondered, why not have some kind of system of player movement.

“I’m not against, you know, some sort of a transfer back and forth,” he said. “I’m not against having a small amount of invites, and that cuts both ways. … maybe an outside team playing every week in LIV, why not. But again, not too sure how they’re going to come together as one tour, so why not have an agreeable two tours where there’s a bit of rivalry.”

Steve Stricker says some LIV golfers want to come back to PGA Tour; are player transfers an option?

The golf conversation continues to be dominated by the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift.

TUCSON, Ariz. — While player movement at the top level of men’s professional golf usually involves LIV recruiting yet another PGA Tour player, Steve Stricker said he knows that some LIV golfers want to return to the PGA Tour.

“I know that for a fact,” he said Thursday after his pro-am round ahead of the 2024 Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club. “And so it’s kind of a wait and see game.”

With much of the golf conversation dominated by the rift, there doesn’t see to be much oxygen left to talk about the other tours but players on the PGA Tour Champions are paying attention to the goings-on in the world of professional golf.

“Of course I’m very interested in what happens,” said Stewart Cink, who turned 50 last year but still plays on both PGA Tour circuits. “I hope that we can get back together as like one sport in golf, but it’s a complex situation.”

With the PGA Tour holding a big-money signature event at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and LIV Golf playing for a fourth time in 2024 in Hong Kong, the Champions circuit is about to stage the first of three straight West Coast events.

“Ultimately, I hope someday we all can play nice together again and have the best players in the world playing and competing against one another,” said Stricker. “I think that day will come and I think there will be some circumstances, you know, where those guys that left are going to have to do something, I don’t know, a penalty of some sort, I don’t know what that means. I hope some day it all comes back together and the guys are playing all together again.”

Whether the rival tours coexist, merge or simply allow some crossover, many feel that there should be no easy path back to the PGA Tour for those who left.

“I wouldn’t let the LIV guys come right back, I don’t think. I think there needs to be some way of, you know, just another way to say thanks for the guys that didn’t leave and just kind of abandon our standards and rules,” Cink said. “I think there needs to be some form of like delayed, I don’t know if it’s delaying some of their performance bonuses or if it’s some kind of a suspension that maintains itself, I don’t know exactly, but something.”

Big names on the PGA Tour leaving for LIV Golf is having a ripple effect on the Champions tour.

“It’s unfortunate, because when [Phil] Mickelson came out, it was a jolt for our tour and it was great,” David Toms, the defending champion of the Cologuard Classic, said during a media day Monday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, for the upcoming Galleri Classic.

Mickelson won his first two – and four of his first six – starts on the PGA Tour Champions in 2021 but seven months after rolling in a birdie putt on the 18th hole at Phoenix Country Club to end that season, he was off to London for the first-ever LIV Golf event.

“And so then all of the sudden he’s not a part of us anymore. So that’s unfortunate,” Toms said.

The drain of veteran golfers with name recognition means the Champions circuit also lost out on Lee Westwood, who turned 50 in April of 2023 and it won’t be able to welcome Ian Poulter, who turned 48 in January 2024, nor Henrik Stenson, who turns 48 this April, in the coming years. The PGA Tour losing a bit of name recognition eventually means a weakened Champions tour.

As long as the PGA Tour and LIV exist, perhaps there’s some middle ground that can be found.

“I’m not against, you know, some sort of a transfer back and forth. I played (Mexico Open) there on the PGA Tour a couple weeks ago, and I’m sure they would have loved to have Abraham Ancer play. So I’m not against having a small amount of invites, and that cuts both ways,” said Padraig Harrington, who compared the situation to the rivalry the PGA Tour used to have with the European Tour. “When the European Tour is in Spain this year, we would love to have Jon Rahm play the Spanish Open. I’m not against a small amount of transfer of players playing events and maybe a couple of invites going each direction. Maybe an outside team playing every week in LIV, why not.

“But again, not too sure how they’re going to come together as one tour, so why not have an agreeable two tours where there’s a bit of rivalry.”

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Padraig Harrington insists his instructional videos can get ‘every golfer in the whole wide world to a single figure handicap’

“It’s hard to be a scratch golfer, but to get to 9, it’s not that hard.”

TUCSON, Ariz. — For golf nerds, Padraig Harrington is a must follow on social media.

If you watch his instructional videos enough, you might even get really good at the game.

“I should be able to get every golfer in the whole wide world to a single figure handicap. I think that’s a very reasonable goal,” Harrington said after his pro-am round at La Paloma Country Club, host venue for this week’s Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions.

“I’ve always liked coaching,” he said, his words coming from a place of truly trying to help the “weekend warriors” get better as this difficult game. Harrington started making videos during the COVID shutdown. He was actually kept from traveling home to Ireland for several months during 2020, so he just kept playing golf but he also started pointing the cellphone camera towards himself to create content that just might help someone out there learn the game.

Cologuard: Steve Stricker says ‘it’s fun thinking about’ pairing up with Tiger Woods for team event in New Orleans

“I tried to post a video every day, then obviously we expanded to now doing it on YouTube on Paddy’s Golf Tips. It’s enjoyable. It’s a great way to get access to the public directly.”

Chris DiMarco, a five-year veteran of the Champions circuit, says it’s “fun watching them and it’s not just something he’s doing to be funny.”

But is it realistic to turn Joe Sixpack, who goes through two sleeves of balls each round, into a single-digit handicapper?

“I think that’s a very reasonable goal,” he insists. “It’s hard to be a scratch golfer, but to get to 9, it’s not that hard.

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“When I say it’s not that hard, there’s some simple things you can do to get there and that’s what my videos are mainly focused on. I’m really just trying to help the weekend warrior get to a level where if you’re a single figure golfer, you can walk into any clubhouse with your chest expanded. It’s a level of achievement.”

Shedding bad habits is one thing. So is ignoring the so-called tips that everyone has heard.

“When it comes to golf, people who come to golf, especially athletes who come to golf, they seem to have some crazy ideas about keeping your head still or keeping your head down or swinging slowly. God, they’re like 100 percent, I think, it won’t be 100 percent, but 99 percent of golfers would be better off doing the exact opposite of what they think would be better. Just swing away, that’s probably the best advice you could give. You’ll just get used to it and time it after that rather than to try and get good too quick, too early.

“We could talk about this all day,” he said.

His playing competitors sometimes notice, too. Harrington says he was stopped by a Champions tour colleague Thursday morning about a recent video.

“I was literally walking out the door, the pro said it was really helping him,” he said before continuing his thoughts in instructor mode. “I just did a recent one with stepping in your swing, try and get the proper sequence in at the movements. Remember, I said movements. You don’t stay still when you’re swinging a golf club, you’ve got to move.

“I’m not trying to make these lessons for my fellow pros,” he added. “I’m trying to make them, as I said, for beginners and people who are kind of stuck in the game, who aren’t improving and trying to get them across that threshold of, you know, being able to break 80, be a single-figure golfer.”

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson highlight 12 sponsor exemptions who won a PGA Tour event since 1990

There are five major champions on this list.

Every PGA Tour event has a handful or so of spots in the field to dole out to golfers who didn’t otherwise qualify.

Those spots may go to a past champion. They often are awarded to a rising star in the game. The strategy there is that perhaps the up-and-comer will remember the courtesy later in his pro career and will become a regular at that particular Tour stop.

Sometimes a sponsor exemption gets doled out to someone noteworthy as a means to drive interest in a tournament, such as former NFL quarterback Tony Romo, who got into the Charles Schwab Challenge, or LPGA star Lexi Thompson, who wowed the Las Vegas crowd last October before just missing the weekend cut at the Shriners Children’s Open.

According to the PGA Tour, since 1990 there have been just 12 golfers to win a tournament after getting a sponsor exemption. There’s been over 1,000 PGA Tour events in that time, proving the long odds a sponsor invite faces.

Here’s the list of those who won on the PGA Tour after receiving a sponsor exemption since 1990.

Padraig Harrington’s thoughtful 3-minute take on how to get kids to love golf is well worth your time

“The love should be first.” Well said.

It’s the clip that’s being shared everywhere days after it was posted: Padraig Harrington, the Irish pro golfer who’s won three majors, was asked before the 2023 PNC Championship how his son, Ciaran, got into the sport his dad plays.

Before Team Harrington shot 7-under for the tournament the Woods family played at, Padraig answered that question with a really thoughtful take on how to get kids into the game of golf: It has to be a stress- and pressure-free environment, and you want to make it special time with your child. They’ll associate it with wonderful times with their parents if that’s the case.

As a fellow parent, I can say he’s nailed it, and it’s not just about getting your kid into a sport. Take the time and watch:

“The love should be first.” Yes, exactly.

With PGA Tour cards on the line, these pros missed the cut at 2023 RSM Classic

The cut at Sea Island Golf Club had more of a sense of finality for some.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — A prominent swing instructor summed up why he could cut tension on the range at the RSM Classic with a rusty nail.

“Some of these guys don’t know whether they will ever tee it up at a PGA Tour event,” he said.

This week is the 54th and final Tour event of the 2022-23 season and so the 36-hole cut Friday had more of a sense of finality for some, especially those battling to make the top 125 and full status for next season or Nos. 126-150 and secure conditional status.

Peter Malnati, who entered the week at No. 116, shot 69-71 (140) and missed the cut and said he’ll be playing the waiting game all weekend. He’s projected No.122. Two three-putts in the first round was uncharacteristic of Malnati and the putter remained cold in the second round. But at least he had the right perspective.

“With or without a Tour card, I’m going to be awesome but I’d rather have one,” he said.

Harry Higgs, who started the week at No. 132 and had missed three straight cuts, made birdie on two of the last three holes to shoot 70 on Seaside Course and make the cut on the number.

All told, 78 golfers shot 4-under 138 or better at Sea Island’s Seaside and Plantation Courses. Higgs didn’t need anyone to let him know what what at stake when he made an 11-foot birdie putt on 18 at Seaside to make the cut.

“No, I know. I know it all too well after this year. Oddly, I wasn’t really that worried about it or focused on it,” he said. “For the last two years I’ve been stressing, worrying about all this shit. And for some reason, I don’t know why, I don’t know that I even said it aloud, I might have just thought it briefly, like I’m just not really going to worry about it this week.”

Patton Kizzire, who entered the week at No. 130, channeled the same philosophy and made birdie on his final two holes at the Plantation Course to make the cut and give himself two more rounds to jump up a few more spots. He’s projected No. 129.

Four players ranked between No. 120 and No. 126 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings entering the week missed the cut: No. 120 Matti Schmid, No. 121 Doug Ghim, No. 123 Troy Merritt and No. 126 Henrik Norlander.

Here’s more about them and some other pros who weren’t so fortunate and had their season come to a premature end. And here are the Saturday tee times for those who did make the weekend.

Perfect weather, low scores galore at Phoenix Country Club for 2023 Charles Schwab Cup Championship

A pair of golfers co-lead at 11 under, and there are 13 within four shots of the lead after 36 holes.

Padraig Harrington finished 27 under to win the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Championship by a whopping seven strokes.

Ahead of the 2023 rendition of the PGA Tour Champions finale, he noted the layout probably won’t play as it did a year ago

“The course is in fantastic condition,” he said after the pro-am Wednesday. “Certainly seem to have tried to toughen it up a little bit this year. They don’t want to see 27 under par again.”

Halfway through this year, the leaders are on pace to get to 22 under, well shy of what Harrington got to a year ago but nonetheless, low scores were to be had Friday at Phoenix Country Club, where the temperature peaked at 77 under clear, sunny skies.

Harrington had the best round Friday with an 8-under 63, his scorecard featuring eight birdies and no bogeys. He was the first to get to double digits under par, and he’s at 10 under after 36 holes.

The co-leaders are Steven Alker and Marco Dawson, who each shot 64 to get to 11 under. Both golfers birdied Nos. 13, 16 and 18 coming down the stretch. Alker won the 2022 Schwab Cup series title.

“The greens seemed faster today. Ball was flying further for some reason, maybe I was hitting it better, I don’t know,” said Alker. “But it seemed to be going a long way.”

For Dawson, it’s been a while since he contended, he admitted in the media scrum after his round.

Q: When was the last time that you shared the lead, do you remember?

MARCO DAWSON: No, I don’t remember. Maybe at home with my buddies. (Laughs.)

Q: Did you win?

MARCO DAWSON: You know, I think I did.

Tied for third with Harrington is Harrison Frazar, who won the first of the 2023 Schwab Cup Playoff events three weeks ago; Alex Cejka, who posted a scorching back-nine 29. He had six birdies on the second nine, including four straight on Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18; and Thongchai Jaidee, who closed with back-to-back birdies to shoot a 67.

Ernie Els, whose first-round 63 is tied for low round of the week so far, shot a 70 and sits tied for sixth at 9 under along with Richard Green and Stephen Ames.

There are 13 players within four shots of the lead.

The 72-hole, no-cut season-ender concludes Sunday. Steve Stricker, who won the season-long points race before the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs started, will not be there to collect his series trophy. He withdrew late in the day Wednesday after announcing his father was admitted into the hospital.

While the PGA Tour Champions season will come to an end Sunday, Harrington is moving on. He’s on the entry list for next week’s RSM Classic on the PGA Tour, the final event of the 2023 FedEx Cup Fall series.

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Bogey is enough for the final spot in top 36 for 2023 Charles Schwab Cup Championship

Labritz bogeyed three of his last seven holes but held on to the 36th spot in the points standings.

Kevin Sutherland dropped out. Charlie Wi zoomed in. And Rob Labritz, despite a final-hole bogey, held on to the final spot.

The third and final event in the 2023 Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs is here, with the top 36 players in the PGA Tour Champions points standings following the TimberTech Championship earning a spot in the field at Phoenix Country Club.

For the third time in tour history, the finale will lack drama, as the season-long crown has already been claimed by Steve Stricker, who clinched the title after the first playoff event, which he skipped. He also chose not to play this week but indicated a few weeks ago that he will be in the field in Phoenix, Nov. 9-12, saying “I’ll definitely be at the last one.”

Bernhard Langer finished second in the points. Padraig Harrington, who won the TimberTech by a whopping seven shots, ended up in the third spot in the points. He won the season-ending tournament in Phoenix in 2022. Last year’s season-long champ, Steven Alker, finished fourth this time around. Ernie Els nabbed the fifth-place spot.

One up, one down

One golfer moved into the final 36, and that was Charlie Wi, whose final-round 64 vaulted him into a tie for second at the TimberTech and into the 35th spot in the points standings. Kevin Sutherland, winner of the 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Championship, fell out of the top 36, dropping seven spots to 41st after a WD at the TimberTech.

Hanging on

Labritz shot 69-68-71 at the Old Course at Broken Sound and it was just enough to advance. He was flirting with danger, however, shooting a 3-over 38 on the back nine Sunday, including a bogey putt on the closing hole. But he knew bogey would be enough and let it all out after sinking that final critical putt.

The 72-hole, no-cut Charles Schwab Cup Championship would essentially be a four-day victory lap for Stricker, who won six times this season. He played 16 events, finished top 10 in 15 of them and was runner-up five times. His only non-top 10 was right after he returned from serving as vice captain at the Ryder Cup near Rome.

Even a last-place finish in Phoenix would earn Stricker enough money to become the first to surpass the $4 million mark in one season on the senior circuit.

Qualifiers for 2023 Charles Schwab Championship

Pos Player
1 Steve Stricker
2 Bernhard Langer
3 Padraig Harrington
4 Steven Alker
5 Ernie Els
6 David Toms
7 Stephen Ames
8 Jerry Kelly
9 Brett Quigley
10 Alex Cejka
11 Miguel Angel Jimenez
12 Harrison Frazar
13 Y.E. Yang
14 Richard Green
15 Vijay Singh
16 K.J. Choi
17 Dicky Pride
18 Rob Pampling
19 Thongchai Jaidee
20 Paul Broadhurst
21 Darren Clarke
22 Joe Durant
23 Paul Stankowski
24 Ken Duke
25 Robert Karlsson
26 Mark Hensby
27 Justin Leonard
28 Colin Montgomerie
29 Ken Tanigawa
30 Steve Flesch
31 Retief Goosen
32 Marco Dawson
33 Mike Weir
34 Billy Andrade
35 Charlie Wi
36 Rob Labritz

First five out

37 Lee Janzen
38 Paul Goydos
39 Shane Bertsch
40 Scott McCarron
41 Kevin Sutherland

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