Harrington hopes luck will change
Padraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington goes in search of a second Irish Open title in Killarney on Thursday, hoping that his work with one of golf's best-known gurus can pay off for him just as it did for Darren Clarke.
American mental coach Bob Rotella was given some of the credit for Clarke's amazing Open triumph two weeks ago, but he was actually staying with Harrington while at Sandwich. The Dubliner, winner of the Claret Jug in 2007 and 2008, missed the cut and has now fallen from third in the world to 64th.
But he has been working on his game ever since, and feels in better shape now. On his personal website, Harrington said: "I have been struggling with my putting for the last few weeks and just couldn't put my finger on the problem. Ultimately it came down to the fact that I hadn't fully committed to my preparation and so I was still trying to figure out what I was doing over the ball."
He added: "I wasn't trusting my reads and so when I stood over the ball I was still trying to figure out where I was going to hit it.
"Once I got this clear in my head it felt so much better. It was very disappointing to miss the cut, but I feel that the work I got done over the weekend will pay big dividends in the coming weeks.
"Even though I did some practice over the weekend I did get to watch pretty much all of Darren's last two rounds.
"He played superb and was the deserved winner. It is great to see him back in the winner's circle - I don't think there is anyone that is not delighted to see him join the major club.
"It's not like Bob told him anything that he didn't tell Darren a hundred times before, but you've got to love the fact that it worked for one and not for another. That's the nature of the game.
"I know one thing for sure, he will really enjoy the celebrations."
