Before there was Bryson DeChambeau, Padraig Harrington was the golfer who tried everything and anything for the slightest edge in his golf.
Remember when he wore the Golf Swing Shirt? Well, that just the least of Harrington’s outside-the-box efforts to transform his game into a three-time major winner and it paid off. On Monday evening, the 52-year-old Irishman officially will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Harrington outworked his competition, routinely spending 12-hour days training with instructor Bob Torrance. Like DeChambeau, he also was serious about his training and that extended to what he put in his temple.
As Harrington recounted the story, he rushed to the airport to catch a flight home and by the time they got through security, the only place still open was Burger King.
“There was about six of us, my family were there and we came back with 12 burgers. We were all hungry. I know I had two of the Whoppers. I think that was the nicest piece of food I’ve ever eaten in my life. Bear in mind, I had not eaten a burger for at least five years before that.”
To give a sense of his dedication to his craft and how he has tempered his obsession ever-so-much as he has transitioned primarily to playing PGA Tour Champions, Harrington compared himself to Scottie Scheffler.
“Everything was about my performance in golf,” he said. “I still go to the gym. I work out relatively hard when I’m in the gym. But I was two tee times behind Scottie Scheffler at the PGA Championship when he got arrested. So 20 minutes after him on the time sheet. I was in my bed when he got arrested. I would have stayed, whatever, 15 minutes at the course. I was Scottie Scheffler. In that sense, I would have been there three and a half hours before my tee time. I would have done 45 minutes in my room. I would have done two different workouts then when I got to the golf course. I had one with my physio for 30 minutes and then I had a 15-minute dynamic warmup, so that’s an hour and a half before I got to the range, and then I’d practice until dark afterwards. You just can’t keep that up. You burn out, so you look for different things.
“I say this anytime I’m talking to businesspeople. You get to that stage in your career, plenty of people feel like they should retire, and I often think, you’ve really got some great skill level to what you’re doing. You’ll never be an expert in anything else than what you’ve spent your last 30 years doing. So what you need to do is stay in what you’re doing but get rid of the rubbish, whatever that is. Whatever is upsetting you. Whatever is something that’s not letting you use your experience and your genius.”
Harrington’s genius is getting the most out of his talent — even if it meant sacrificing burgers and fries.
