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It’s easy to forget the stars of yesteryear when they start to withdraw from the PGA Tour and become regulars on the PGA Tour Champions. Which is a shame, because it’s not as if the 50-plus group suddenly forgets how to play at a high level when they trade in, say, Charles Schwab’s challenge for the Cologuard Classic.
Take 51-year-old Padraig Harrington, who in seven Champions Tour starts this year has finished outside the top 10 just once — while also making five cuts in five attempts on the PGA Tour, including a Top 30 finish in the US. Los Angeles Country Club opened two weeks ago.
“It’s interesting, when we’re here trying to beat each other,” Harrington said last week. “But when someone comes back to the regular round, we all cheer for them. We all hope the running back plays well just to prove that we still play here.”
Oh, they still have it all right — or at least, Harrington does, and not just because he’s taller than ever, with ball speeds that top 190 mph. All parts of his game were working, as shown by his stunning tally of No. 28 that gave him a come-on win at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in En-Joie, New York, on Sunday. After getting a 30-yard up-and-down bonus bunker on the 11th par-4, Harrington found other equipment, finishing his birdie-round birdie-Birdie-Eagle-Birdie-par to move to 18-under-the-week and edge Joe Durant by one.
Out of a six-footer he holed up for a deuce at 17, Harrington said, “I could have closed my eyes, turned my back, and would have hidden in the putt. It’s amazing, when they’re in you can’t see a way to miss.”
This is often what it takes to win the Champions Tour, as the 54-hole format does not allow for many mistakes. One bad hole, you can survive. One bad round and you’ve probably shot yourself out of the tournament.
“It’s amazing how much pressure you’re under here,” Harrington said. “You’ve got to shoot 18 underground in three days. That’s a lot of work. It doesn’t matter, you know, you gotta dig the pitches, you gotta get close to the pickets, you gotta play some golf to get to 18 under par. You know that These guys can play.”
In his seven starts for the champions this season, Harrington has hit a combined 81 under par, and even the majors haven’t offered much comfort in terms of having to fill your card with birdies. Harrington shot 15 under the Districts tradition, tied for fifth, and 18 under the PGA, which was good enough to earn him a playoff spot, which he lost to Steve Stricker. The third major tournament of the season, the US Open Grand Slam, is taking place this week at SentryWorld, in Stevens Point, Wis.
Harrington’s wins haven’t come easily this year, but there’s still time to rectify that.
“I’ve won four from this period on,” he said of his four-win rookie season a year earlier. “I don’t like superstition or anything like that, but it took me half a year to go last year, and I won this week.”
More wins are sure to come, and most likely soon.