For those reporting on the ancient club-and-ball game the delightful side of Padraig Harrington thankfully has never changed.
Even before he made his way into the pro ranks Harrington in his dealings with the writter media has simply talked and talked.
While many of his peers offer just a few sentences in response to approaches from the media, Harrington’s replies are forever a long fireside chat like response.
I recall a British Masters tournament many years back at The Belfry when Colin Montgomerie was leading after a certain round and someone counted-up the words in Monty’s post round presser and it was just over 200 words, and that was to describe his full round.
HARRINGTON HOPEFULLY WILL NEVER CHANGE ….
As again was evident in @padraig_h ‘s @mutualofomaha @WilsonGolf long-time relationship with the written media ahead of this week’s #AmgenIrishOpen #amg2026 @TrumpDoonbeg
After being asked a six-worded question, Padraig produced a… pic.twitter.com/gOwPprdgqi
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) September 9, 2026
Harrington had taken a double-bogey that day and in adding-up the number of words he took to describe the double it amonted to around 340 words.
Not writing here to criticise Harrington but far from it as the Irishman has always been a golf writer’s delight, and we saw today another example of the triple major champion as his talkative best in visiting the media at the Amgen Irish Open Media Centre at Doonbeg.
Harrington was asked a six worded question: “What’s your favourite thing about this event?”
His response generated an super informative 314 word response: “Definitely the atmosphere, the fans. I struggled at the start with that. It was a lot of stress and just put a lot of pressure on you. I think it takes awhile for you to figure out that everybody wanting you to do well is not them expecting to you do well and once you get a handle on the fact that it’s just a genuine hope that you do well — like it always felt like you were letting them down back in the day if you didn’t hit a perfect shot. Took a while before I got comfortable with hat and I do enjoy that now with the atmosphere, the fans.
“I like the fact that the European players who come over loved the atmosphere, love the actual event. They questioned our weather at times, but everybody enjoys the event.
“Amgen have come in and really upped the game of The Irish Open. It’s one of the premiere events on The European Tour. The players love it. They appreciate it. And to be honest, I take everything personal during the week.
“If I see something out, I go, you know what, that’s not quite right, let’s get that fixed. I do take — as I think all the Irish players, we take a little bit of ownership.
“So if we hear somebody, you know, toast was overdone or whatever it is, we’re interested to see what everything is, and we want the best possible experience. I think we all take a little bit of ownership, and it’s nice that with a sponsor like Amgen that it can be as big a tournament in Europe as it is.
“It’s a pretty competitive world in golf tournaments now. There’s a lot of choices for players. As you can see with the field this week, those players that can choose have come here”.
Yet another brilliant response, Padraig.
