Watch: Padraig Harrington emphasizes mental game as the key to success in golf
Irish professional golfer Padraig Harrington is currently playing at The Senior Open 2023. He currently stands in the T15 position on the leaderboard.
He has won six PGA Tour titles, which include three major tournaments; two Open Championships (2007 and 2008) and PGA Championships (2008).
While playing on Legends Tour, Harrington spoke in an in-ground interview about the mental game. Flushing It shared the video of the interview on Twitter. In the video, he said:
"I would actually say once you get to our level, it's 99 percent mental. I'll find you 10,000 guys who hit the golf ball better than any pros on tour or as good as them and they're not tour players and never will be."
Harrington on the mental game:
“I would actually say once you get to our level it’s 99% mental. I’ll find you 10000 guys who hit the golf ball better than any pros on tour or as good as them and they’re not tour players and never will be.”
Spot on 👏
pic.twitter.com/QQdpLyZpt0
Padraig Harrington emphasized that many pros on the PGA Tour are terrible strikers of golf balls. He added that it was all about attitude and self-belief.
"I'll find you, you know, a lot on Tour who are terrible golf striker for a great pros [sic]. So, at this level, it is all the attitude, it's the attitude about yourself, it's attitude to make the shots, your self-belief. You know, not get too high, not get too low. It really is mental and so much uncircumstantial."
Further, Harrington explained how good breaks and bad breaks affect the game of players.
"You know, things can happen on the golf course. It looks like you are in control and you get good break, and you can make a good birdie, and you think you can putt in that. And when you get a bad break and make a pole again and you think you are swinging the club badly, which has nothing to do with it."
Analyzing Padraig Harrington's performance in the 2022-23 season
The 51-year-old Irish golfer has played 18 tournaments in the 2022-23 season so far. He has played seven events on the PGA Tour, three on the DP World Tour, and eight on the Legends Tour.
Here are Padraig Harrington's leaderboard standings across all the Tours he played:
PGA Tour
Harrington played seven tournaments on the PGA Tour and has not missed the cut in any of them. His best performance came in the Valero Texas Open where he finished tied 10th on the leaderboard.
- The Open - T64
- Genesis Scottish Open - T42
- U.S. Open - T27
- PGA Championship - T50
- Valero Texas Open - T10
- Arnold Palmer Invitational - T53
- The Honda Classic - T60
DP World Tour
Padraig Harrington played three events on the DP World Tour. He has missed the only cut of this season at the Dubai Desert Classic.
- Ras al Khaimah Championship - T25
- Dubai Desert Classic - Missed the Cut
- Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship - 4
Legends Tour
On Legends Tour, Harrington has won one event this season, the DICK's Sporting Goods Open.
- U.S. Senior Open Championship - T18
- DICK'S Sporting Goods Open - 1
- KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship - 2
- Regions Tradition - T5
- Insperity Invitational - T33
- The Galleri Classic - T5
- Hoag Classic - T7
- Chubb Classic - T2
As mentioned earlier, Padraig Harrington is currently playing at The Senior Open. As of writing, he stands in the T15 position on the leaderboard.