Padraig Harrington arrived at Oak Hill and venue for this week’s PGA Championship to find organisers had arranged to park his courtesy car besides that of Tiger Woods.
All 156 players competing in the year’s final Major have been given access for the week to a gleaming new Mercedes.
Harrington and Woods have parking spots in the row reserved for former champions.
And while the pair of side-by-side in the Players Car Park they’re virtually no splitting them when it comes to their last Major Championship glory.
Harrington hasn’t won a Major, or for that matter, a regular tournament since capturing the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills whereas Woods, who despite winning a 79th Tour victory last week in Akron, is looking to end a five-year Majors drought.
Harrington and Woods side by side in the car park and both looking to end a 5-year Majors drought. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
Harrington looked no closer to ending the drought after missing the cut in last week’s Reno-Tahoe Open.
And after playing a practice round Tuesday at Oak Hill he revealed his disappointment in having to sit out the last two rounds of an event heading into a Major.
“My family was there and we’re having lunch, and I was not in the best form but before we headed off to do what we’re going to do for the rest of the day, so I said ‘look, I’m heading outside to hit shots’ and hitting shots for 45 minutes makes me optimistic’”, said Harrington.
“So everything is looking forward.
“But then you go out there and you find something you think is significant. It never is but many times you fool yourself into believing ‘this is going to help me going forward’. You always want to have something to occupy yourself and keep yourself going.
“Also I sometimes don’t have the chance to nip it in the bud, like when I am rushing for a flight home on Sunday night.
“The most important thing you can do to relieve stress is to talk to people. It’s not necessary for them to talk back. That’s the most important thing. You see it in bigger situations when people are genuinely under stress, I’ve obviously been involved in some more serious things, talk is the biggest and the best thing you can do. Talk to somebody.
“You need to talk and somebody just needs to be there to listen to you. There’s no doubt that I’d be very frustrated in the evening time if my round has finished badly and I’m sitting there and I haven’t had a chance to get it off my chest.
“Talking to you guys (the media) isn’t the answer.
“How am I going to put this without offending you or anyone else? It’s really about talking to somebody who cares in a personal sense and who listens, will agree with you and lets you rant away.
“For me it would have been simple. Every round I played starting out as a pro, I’d have rung home to my dad. I’d tell him about everything in the round, every shot I’d played and how, and he’d say well done or whatever. Certainly, Caroline would have taken that over.
There’s no doubt having somebody who is sympathetic towards you. The key here is that it’s not somebody who is telling you about the round or about what somebody else did. Or judging you in any shape or form. It’s somebody who is just listening away.”
The close of the PGA Championship will mark the end of Harrington’s five-year exemption into the two Majors he hasn’t won and that are the Masters and the US Open.
And while Harrington has a lifetime exemption into the PGA and a ‘to age 65’ exemption into the British Open he knows he needs to get himself back into the top-50 if he is to continue to play all four Majors and also get back into the Ryder Cup team.
“I know I need to get into the world top-50 for sure but more because the only way for me to qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup is to be in the world top-50,” he said.
“I need to be in the top-50 to get into those events and to gather the points. It’s not easy if you’re outside of that, it’s really difficult.
“I’ve longer to get into the top-50 for the Masters as I have until March to do that. But for some of the big money events towards the end of the year, you have to be in the top-50 by September. I’m talking about the ones later on.”
