Fellow Triple Major winning Padraig Harrington delivered Rory McIlroy a sobering reminder to ‘make as much hay while the sun’s still shining’.

With the golf world warming to the glow of McIlroy’s double British Open and Bridgestone Invitational triumphs, Harrington offered the World No. 1 some timely advice.

“Clearly, Rory is playing fabulous and the moment and I just like the way he runs with it when he plays well,” said Harrington.

“Two months or so ago the golf world was crying why isn’t he playing better and now he’s World No. 1 and they’re saying he’ll never not win again.

“I like the fact that when he does play well he wins and he carries it through and that is a great habit to have.

“In terms of your career and being able to play well and win that is really important and he will wrack-up plenty of wins based on the fact that he has a great game and he’s firing on all cylinders.

“But what with Tiger’s injury and things we can’t foresee in 10 or 15 years whether or not Rory will have an injury or not or whatever.

“We can foresee that anybody else will come along and certainly Rory is now dominating the game with his driving, his long driving and his accuracy off the tee.

“But he is not as long when he hits driver more often than anybody else.

“However I am seeing more and more young players coming out like a young Australian I played with last week in Las Vegas, a fellow named Oliver Goss who won the ‘Low Amateur’ award at the Masters this year.

“I would hit a good one off the tee and he would then hit his 50-yards past me.

“So all I am saying is that there might be five new young players in the ranks in five years time and 20 of them in 10 year’s time.

“So my message to Rory is make hay while the sun shines.

“And he is and that’s what we are seeing him do at the moment.  He’s having a great run at the moment, like he’s now won three majors in three years and that is very impressive.”

Harrington will play the opening two rounds of this year’s 2014 PGA Championship in the company of fellow Open and PGA winners Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

It is only Harrington’s second Major this year after being non-exempt for the Masters and the US Open.

And hereunder is a transcript of an interview www.golfbytourmiss.com shared with the affable Irishman.

Qn:  Padraig.  Does Valhalla fit your eye?

Ans:  “I played here in the Ryder Cup and the 2000 PGA and I kind of know and remember the golf course and it’s a good, strong golf course but you have to get your head around the fact it is going to be low scoring,” he said.

“You have got to be thinking to yourself this week that it’s going to be in the mid-teens.”

Qn:  How would you assess your game coming into this week?

Ans:       “The game is good but mentally I am getting in my own way and I am working hard to get out of it and every week I hope it is going to be the week I do, so it’s all bit like still work in progress.”

Qn:  Why is that as you have always been strong mentally?

Ans: “It is the nature of things and I’ve always known that the mental side of things is the area I excel in and I’ve probably put myself under a bit too much pressure in that area of the game knowing what success it brings when it is right.   You put a little bit more intensity into things and you try a little bit harder but sometimes these things aren’t the best when it comes to the mental side of the game.

Qn:  You have conquered the mental side before but when you do get it right where do you go with your notes of your career?

Ans:  “Look, you say I’ve conquered it before, and at a very good level before and you always try to improve on that but maybe it’s due to a little lack of intolerance having done it already and not be able to do it all the time, and maybe that has eaten away at me a bit.”

Qn:  When you come to a Major and a Major you have won does it give you any lift at all?

Ans:  “It is a level playing field now just because I have won one before.  I think it makes a difference coming down the stretch but most weeks it’s more of a burden to carry it especially at the start of a week and certainly it’s a level playing field and no one is giving me any start this week but true coming down the very stretch it could play to your advantage having these before.”

Qn:  Would a single round, a low round or a sequence of low rounds, would that do it for you?

Ans:  “It could and four of them would be nice in a row (smiling) but then I don’t have much momentum in the game and you can see that in plenty of players that when they do get a good result, they continue to have good results and I haven’t been doing that.

“Physically, there is nothing wrong with the game at all and yes, I could do with the momentum and yes, I could do with the getting out of my own way but all those things are very logical and easily said but a lot harder to do.”

Qn:  With the form that Rory McIlroy is in and given it was you who began this run of 8 Irish victories in the Majors in the last seven years what then do did you think of his last two wins?

Ans:  “Clearly, he is playing fabulous and the moment and I just like the way he runs with it when he plays well.   Two months ago the golf world was crying why isn’t he playing better and now he’s World No. 1 and they’re saying he’ll never not win again.

“I like the fact that when he does play well he wins and he carries it through and that is a great habit to have.

“In terms of your career and being able to play well and win that is really important and he will wrack-up plenty of wins based on the fact that he has a great game and he’s firing on all cylinders.”

Qn:  After what he achieved at Congressional you said he could threaten Nicklaus’ record.  Rory said ‘oh, paddy, paddy’.  But then your prediction is looking more solid now?

“I can understand that he would say that at the time because I was putting him under pressure and it could have been construed that way but then he should be reading or listening to anything in the media.

“But yes, he can win a lot of majors and I do think in hindsight and looking at Tiger that there has never been anyone as good as Tiger, and you have to understand things happen in a career and it takes a long time to win 18 majors and some of Rory’s advantages could be eroded over the next couple of years given some of the kids now coming out of college who  have a very similar game to him.

“So it’s not like he is going to turn up  to a tournament and have an almighty advantage over the field based on his driving.

“So, yes he can get there but he needs to a hurry on.”

Qn:   You mentioned Tiger. He’s injured again.  You must have thoughts on his comeback?

Ans:  “It’s not great when you come back from surgery and he may have come back a bit early and then had a relapse, so much so that everybody is now second guessing.  I don’t know if he will be here or not.  Personally, it’s one of those things as people just don’t forsee having these hiccups along the way.

“I always assumed Tiger would get to 18 Majors and I definitely still believe he can win more Majors but he is making it hard for himself.”

Qn:   Back to yourself.  You just had ‘Happy Gilmore’ that went out of bounds….

Ans:  “It missed the fairway (laughing) but then by a long way.

Qn:   You then teed it up normally and hit it past the (then) furthest mark (335-yards)?

Ans:  It is a little disappointing that my normal shot went so far but then I hit it hard like in a tournament and it was nice it was the longest shot of the day on the fairway but I don’t know whether anybody else hit a ball later on outside the 330 mark as mine was 335-yards.   But it is good to know I can get it down there when I do hit a good shot.”