A year ago, Padraig Harrington was on the precipice of history.
With a victory in the Masters, he would have joined Jack
Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only golfers to win
three consecutive major titles, and there was even whimsical talk
of a Paddy Slam.
Not only did none of it happen, Harrington was not really
competitive throughout most of the season.
He enters the Shell Houston Open this week without a victory
since the 2008 PGA Championship.
However, with the Masters a week away, he seems to be close
to the form that carried him to three major titles in 13 months.
"I'm capable of winning in the form I'm in," he said two
weeks ago at the Transitions Championship.
"Am I in my best form? No. Am I getting there? Yes.
"I'm kind of in the form that I was in at the end of last
year. I'm out there, I'm right in the midst of it. I'm not far
away. I'm happy that I've got ... another tournament before
Augusta, let's say.
"I'm pretty much in the midst of playing golf at the moment
and not too worried about technique."
Harrington attributes getting too caught up in the swing
changes made by instructor Bob Torrance before last season for his
struggles in 2009, when he did not finish in the top 10 until tying
for second until the WGC-Bridgestone in August.
Once he started simply playing golf instead of thinking about
how he was doing it, he reeled off six consecutive top 10s.
"I practiced easily into six months of the season last year,"
said Harrington, who has five PGA Tour victories among the 22
overall titles in his career. "I didn't start playing golf until
Augusta. I have to clearly define my times I'm working on my game,
and I'm playing and competing. ...
"I'll be better for it for making the mistakes I made last
year, but there's no difference in the pressure, because the
pressure to go win a major tournament, certainly for me, it's all
internal. I want to win (the Masters) badly, so it's not like any
outside expectations is affecting me anywhere. So the pressure is
the same, but hopefully I've learned a few things from last year."
Harrington, who even before last year spent most of his
offseason every year tinkering with his game, got off to another
slow start this season before tying for third in the WGC-CA
Championship and tying for eighth in the Transitions in his last
two outings.
He admits to being a slow starter.
"It's a normal start for me," said Harrington, who climbed
back into the top 10 of the World Golf Rankings with those two high
finishes. "I've done a lot of work over the winter, and it just
takes time to get back into competitive play. ...
"Mind you, I haven't won in a while, so a result would be
nice, but it's more about putting yourself in competition right up
there and testing yourself. ... I'm probably out of form. I slowly
go back into form. So unfortunately I tend to show form before I
win, like a good horse."
Harrington certainly wouldn't mind if that next victory came
in Houston this week, but he has his eye on the bigger events down
the road.
He's definitely a man with a plan.
"I'll be happy if I hit peak form from the Masters through to
the Ryder Cup," the two-time British Open champion said. "(If you
do), you're going to have a successful year.
"If you're going to pick a time to play well, play well
through the four majors. If you're going to peak, make sure you hit
it in the middle of the year. If you do look back, guys who are
winning December and January don't normally have good summers."
Harrington has admitted that he has followed the Tiger Woods
scandal in the tabloids and at Internet gossip sites, claiming that
everyone is a bit of a voyeur.
Never one to shirk from a challenge, he is one player to say
he would not mind being paired with the disgraced No. 1 at Augusta.
"It is as ordered as can be there, so I for one would be
quite comfortable if I got drawn with Tiger," Harrington said. "I
do not see it being any different than being drawn with him the
first two rounds last year. I do believe, though, if it was first
two rounds at Bay Hill, that would be slightly different. But then
again, you wouldn't mind being there to watch it all. ...
"If I got paired with him, I would say good luck. I would
make an effort to meet him before I was on the first tee. I would
definitely make it my business to see him in the locker room
beforehand or whatever so that I could say hello.
"There is going to be a bit more attention on it. It does
make it a bit more E! Entertainment, doesn't it, rather than CBS?"
Paddy has made enough history to know something memorable
when he sees it coming.
