With triple Major winning Padraig Harrington now close to dropping outside the World’s top-100 for a first time in 16 years the Irishman confessed he’s lost a ‘fear’ in his game as he also seeks to end a five-year winless drought at this week’s KLM Open at Zandvoort.
Harrington is competing in the Dutch premier event for a first occasion in 11 years since finishing third at Hilversum in 2002 though this is the 42-year olds first visit to the links-like Kennemer course located on the Dutch coastline and close to the Zandvoort race car circuit.
However Harrington has been forced to return to Europe, and finishing well down the field in last week’s Swiss event, after failing to qualify for the rich PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Series.
Paul Harrington close to checking in on the wrong side of top-100 in the world. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
While Harrington won last year’s four-man Grand Slam of Golf his last taste of tournament success was in capturing the 2008 PGA Championship.
Also the Dubliner has slipped to 92nd on the World Rankings and in danger of dropping outside the top-100 for a first time since late 2006, and in Harrington’s first full season on the Tour.
“There is really not much fear in my game at present because sometimes when you have a bit of fear in your game it also brings intensity and focus to your game,” he said.
“I just seem to be lacking that at the moment but then while I feel genuinely quite positive about my game I just can’t go out there and live up to expectations.
“When I am playing my best, I am genuinely quite fearful about my game and so I can go out there and narrow my focus and play better.
“But then times have changed and I’ve seen it all happen before me so there’s no mystery to the game at the moment, and as such there’s no fear and I’m not bringing much spark to the golf course.
“All I can do is just manage what I’ve got and try and figure it out another way.”
But while Harrington looks to correct a downturn in his game 49-year old Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez is determined to extend his record as the Tour’s oldest-ever champion in winning a second KLM Open and nine years after a first.
“Next January I will be 50 but then I don’t find it a difficult thing still to be competitive out here,” he said.
“I finished fifth last week in Switzerland and thought I had a good chance of winning but I have always believed that the period from my middle age to now would be my best years.
“I played with Thomas Bjorn the last round last week and he’s 42, so I don’t see it as a problem for me being competitive at 49 years of age.”
Jimenez also has not ruled out qualifying automatically for next year’s European Ryder Cup side and a first since 2010 after being a vice-captain in 2010 and last year..
“With my age I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow but I like the game and I love to compete on the Tour,” he said.
“Of course, it is still a long time to we play the Ryder Cup and what I have to do is to enjoy every single week from now to then.
“But I would love to play again on the Ryder Cup team, of course I would.
“I look like qualifying for the Seve Trophy team next month and that will mean I will be the only player to have played in every Seve Trophy so that’s nice.”
And returning to competition for a first time since last month’s PGA Championship is Belguim’s Nicolas Colsaerts who first played the Kennemer course as a 15-year old.
