The European Ryder Cup Captain turns 50 in August and has reserved aspirations to play the Champions Tour. Here, he reveals his dream of inspiring Tour pros of his generation by winning a fourth major and what it will take to win the Ryder Cup on US soil later this year.
In the midst of all the Ryder Cup stuff you’ve been involved in recently, it’s been largely overlooked that you turn 50 later this year. What are your plans for that and beyond?
It is coming round. I’ve always said I would try to be competitive with the young lads. In some ways I’ve been obsessive about that. And I’m there at the moment. I can hit it far enough, farther than many of them on the European Tour actually. But the difference is that I’m on edge. If I miss a six-foot putt on the 12th hole in the first round, I’m thinking about the cut.
What I used to think is that, no matter what happened, I’d still be in touching distance of the leaders with nine holes to play on Sunday afternoon. When you feel like that, you play better. But I’m ‘tight’ out there now. And I don’t putt as well because of that. Then again, I see guys who putt just like me going to the Champions Tour. Then they putt well. Which makes me think there is something odd going on (laughs).
I look at the Champions Tour and know that it is incredibly difficult to shoot 20-under par out there. And I wonder if my strengths are suited to that tour. You don’t have to hit it long. But I try to keep in my head that I want to be the oldest-ever player to win on the European Tour. That keeps me out here. Even when I’m not shooting low scores, you can look at me and not know it. I try to stay positive.
Has the Ryder Cup captaincy shifted your focus at all?
No. It’s been a crazy time. I don’t want to sound selfish and say it was a good time. But I’ve been on the road for 25 years, so having five months at home with my family was brilliant for me. I’ve had a great time with my kids – who are 17 and 12 now. Although I’m sure that my wife is more than happy I’m out the door a bit now (laughs). I lived like a king for five months. It was brilliant being at home.
I’ve had time to practise. I’ve cleared up stuff in my own head. I’m out here to play, not practice. There’s no doubt I would spend way too much time at tournaments practising rather than playing. But because I’ve had that period at home, I’m not here believing I’m going to find a secret. I’m conformable with what my swing is doing. So all I’m doing is playing. And if I’m competitive I’ll keep going on the European Tour.
I do think that if you go to the Champions Tour you never come back. Once you go there, your mindset changes. It’s comfortable.
Bernhard Langer pops back in occasionally.
Yes. But when he does he plays great and finishes 27th … maybe a top-10.
On the other hand, if you don’t go to the Champions Tour at 50 you are missing out on your best period for winning. There is typically a five or six-year period when you can be the top dog. So all I can say right now is that I will play where I think I can win tournaments. If I can’t win here in Europe or on the PGA Tour, I look forward to taking on the over-50s. It’s nice to have that choice.
You became a bit of a social media star during your time away from the Tour in shutdown. Your tips have been massively popular. Did that help you too in a way?
My 17-year old son doesn’t play golf. Not really. But he did all the video work. If you saw him play and I told you he was a scratch golfer, you wouldn’t doubt me. Here’s why. One of the things I keep pointing out is that you have to have the mannerisms of a golfer to be a golfer. He has them all. He has all the old-school moves that make you look like you’re a player. He was listening to me all the while. And he was playing a bit too. That was a nice bonus for me to see.
For myself, doing all those tips actually made it a little tougher once I got back to playing. I had a chip shot off a tight lie at the Irish Open and I just got so nervous. I was thinking, ‘after all these lessons, I better not chunk this.’ It was an awkward one too. The ground was soft so it would have been easy to chilli-dip it. Throw in the fact that it was my first event back and I didn’t feel that sharp and I was nervous (laughs).
I’ve always loved coaching people though. I love pro-ams for that reason. I love telling people that they are wrong (laughs). There’s actually a massive disconnect in golf. Just about all the teaching out there is for obsessive, elite players. Telling a 14-handicapper that he needs to ‘lay the club down’ in the downswing is a waste of time. There’s so much stuff like that, all of it causing confusion.
What most people should be doing is looking at pictures and video of just about any player prior to 1990. Especially those from the 1950s and 1960s. They are the ones everyone should mimic. They have nice footwork. They waggle beautifully. In contrast, today’s players are more athletic. No normal person in their 40s or 50s can lock their hips up and swing a golf club. Or keep their left heels down in the backswing. Restrictions like that are crazy for the vast majority.
One huge misconception is that so many people think that having a ‘stable’ base means having a ‘still’ or ‘static’ base. ‘Stable’ actually means that you move and create pressure. Moving is how you keep your balance. You can’t do that as well by staying still. So most of the instruction stuff I see on the internet is for high-end players. Not for the average guy.
My goal is to help anyone and everyone to play off single-figures. If you do that, there isn’t a clubhouse you can’t walk into and not think ‘I’m a golfer.’ You will belong. There’s nowhere you can’t go. Of course, getting to single figures isn’t that hard. But improvement gets harder once you get to five or so.
“My goal is to help anyone and everyone to play off single-figures. If you do that, there isn’t a clubhouse you can’t walk into and not think ‘I’m a golfer.’ You will belong.” – Padraig Harrington
I’ve done a lot of 3-D work at home. It’s amazing how little rotation in the hips or shoulders makes to the speed at which you swing the club. I can get my rotational speed up to that achieved by the long drive guys, which is maybe 20 percent faster than most Tour pros. Yet I lose ball speed by doing that. So rotation only has a tiny effect if it is done correctly.
No one has yet come up with a commercially viable way of measuring the force on the handle of the club. The only way you can tell how fast you are swinging the club is through clubhead speed. But two things really determine speed: how much pressure you can put on the linear direction of the grip. And the length of your lever. High hands – not a ‘big’ turn – is key. That way you can get more ‘pull’ on the grip. But other than using a high-speed camera, there is no way of measuring that.
The bottom line is that I’ve gained length over the last few months through sheer guesswork. I’ve tried everything. ‘What if I do this?’ is my favourite question.
What sort of feedback have you had from your tips?
Great from the people I’ve been aiming at. But so many pros have liked them too. I’m fascinated by that. I get that short game tips are for pretty much everyone. And that is where my proficiency is, so I see how they might help other pros. But telling them to use their hands a bit more is not going to help them.
I wasn’t trying to help my competitors of course. My first coach when I was a kid, Wattie Sullivan, used to say, ‘never give anyone advice, they’ll use it to beat you.’
But people at home enjoyed my tips. I’ve started a YouTube channel so there will be more detail on the way. Besides, as I said, I do it every week during pro-ams. I broke my wrist last year and couldn’t play for a bit. I spent five or six weeks at the Bears Club in Florida. By the end of that time, if you made eye-contact with me you were getting a lesson. I was wandering around looking for people. If one lifted his head I was in there.
I must tell you about something Jack Nicklaus did while I was there. One thing I really learned from. I was there as his guest, having written to ask if I could use the facilities. In the first week I was there, I’m with a member, a guy I know, Ronan my caddie and another Irish lad. Jack is there having a meeting and I’m keeping an eye on him because I want to thank him for his hospitality.
Jack finishes, stands up and walks out. It’s clear he’s in a hurry. But I follow him just to say a quick ‘thanks.’ So he stops and asks who I’m with. Then he comes back with me and spoke to my friends. They were beside themselves. I would have considered myself good if I had stopped and said hello. But Jack went the extra mile. It was so classy. Especially as it was clear he was heading somewhere. I was so impressed. He didn’t just say hi to me, he took the time to make my friends feel good. I’ll never forget that.
How do you feel about what Bryson DeChambeau has been doing?
It’s very impressive. He had 189mph ball speed at The Open last year. But there was an Austrian kid there who was at 191mph. The three of us were on the range. So Bryson had the speed. And bulking up has only added to his confidence and ability to do what he is doing.
What everyone seems to be failing to realise is that he is a great player. He’s a great player who has added speed. That’s the start. Secondly, as regards the game, 230 mph is what is supposed to be humanly possible. And he is at 211mph I hear, so he is running at 12 seconds for 100 metres.
There are a host of guys out there who are as fast as Bryson. But we don’t even know it. Cameron Champ doesn’t even look like he is swinging hard and the ball is going out there huge distances. Distance used to be coached out of kids. Not now. Now they are going for it.
Where do you think the top players are going to play in 10 years’ time?
I have huge reservations about the future. Go to just about any golf course these days and it is just plain dangerous. There’s plenty of people in every local club who have 120mph clubhead speed … and they’re high-handicappers. So they have no idea where the ball is going. Yet they can hit drives 340 yards through the air. If they miss a dogleg, the ball is pitching in the middle of the next fairway. When I was growing up and that happened, the ball crashed into the trees or the rough. The next fairway was safe.
Then there’s the cost of upkeep on courses. The maintenance. But the safety and speed of golf concerns me. I would always have the attitude that what gives most people joy from the game is out-driving your friend or out-driving your personal best on a given hole. If the standard is 280 and you hit one 290, you feel good. But you’re not going to feel any better if those numbers are 320 and 330. The relationship between you and your partners and you and yourself determines how much you enjoy playing. Much more than raw distance. It’s a comparative thing.
What about at your level though? Where are they going to play if they keep hitting the ball longer and longer?
This sometimes gets missed too. The ball performs so well in hot weather. That’s where it does its real work. But cold weather is different. The week at the Scottish Open I saw guys coming up short a lot because of the relatively low temperatures. I was hitting 5-irons from 185 yards out. In warmer weather I’d be hitting a 7-iron from that distance.
But I get the point. I’m not sure we need the ball to go as far as it does. Big-hitters are still going to be big-hitters if they hit it 280 and the rest are at 250.
Here’s an extreme example. If they played the 10th hole at Riviera – a short par-4 – 18 times every day the pros would stop working on pure distance. They would switch to distance control and their short games. You guys react to your environment, so why not change that environment?
You’re right. And the players still think that the shorter holes are the best holes. The 500-yard par-4 does nothing for me. We hit driver-9-iron to that hole. Who cares? But the 10th at Riviera scares the life out of even the best players.
I would like to see courses set-up differently. There’s one thing I’d like to see more. I can’t understand why they don’t do it.
Every course that has run-offs around greens should shave those banks, so that the ball finishes as far away from the green as possible. But it doesn’t happen. And I know why. At the moment, when a ball runs away a few yards from a green, everyone automatically reaches for the putter. No. On the run-off you need just enough of a collar of rough to a) take the putter out of the player’s hands and b) still let the ball run away from the green.
So you can’t use the putter. You have to chip. I know from playing, that sorts the men from the boys. If you have a tight lie and you have a delicate shot to hit under pressure, nerves become part of the test. But now, you just grab your putter.
Too much rough is useless too of course. In the US Open at Winged Foot back in 2006, I was standing back-right of the par-3 10th green. I air-mailed the right corner of the green with my tee-shot. But the ball died in the rough. I was no more than 18-feet from the hole. All I had was a ‘dunt-and-run’ to the flag. But if the rough had not been there, I would have ended up more than 40-yards from the hole.
That’s the way we have to go. Rough is actually a leveller. It makes the game easier. It gives the bad player more of a chance. And it takes away the edge a more skilful player should have. It just makes it easier.
Narrow fairways don’t help the short-hitter by the way. If you make them so tight that everyone is missing, you might as well be in the rough nearer the green. My mind always goes back to Fred Funk when he won the Players at Sawgrass. He hit 53 fairways and one fringe from the tee. He’s a short-hitter and by giving him the chance to hit every fairway he was competitive.
Personally, however, I would start around the greens. That needs to be sorted out.
I am consistently very low in the ‘greens in regulation’ category. But I’m usually high in ‘proximity to the hole.’ All I ever do is fire at the pins. And if I miss, the ball gets stuck 20-feet from the hole. Instead of hitting to the middle of the green from the rough, I go for the pin knowing that the punishment won’t often fit the crime. 20 feet from the cup is not a problem from the rough.
RIGHT: Harrington’s short game expertise & advice can regularly be seen on YouTube. PHOTO: Getty Images.
With the exception of Gary Wolstenholme, I’m thinking you must be the last guy to play in three Walker Cups for Great Britain & Ireland. Why did you hang around that long? You turned pro when you were 24.
But that was okay back in my day. It’s unusual now though. Young guys turn pro quicker, as they should. You have to go when you’re hot. If you wait, you can lose your place.
I did accountancy at night school because I wanted to play golf and have a nice job. I imagined I would end up managing a golf resort. If I’d known there was something like player management – I know Monty (Colin Montgomerie) considered doing that – I would have leaned more towards that, but that didn’t exist for me.
All I was thinking was that I wanted to be involved in the game I loved playing. I was good at numbers so I did accountancy, all so that I could stay in the business of golf.
When did that change?
When I noticed I was beating everyone who was turning pro. I was 22 and I was beating all the really good players from Great Britain and Ireland. Most of them from Europe too. I was winning all my matches. Leading qualifiers. All that stuff. So it occurred to me to have a go as a pro. But my initial goal was to have maybe five years on the Tour finishing around 75th on the money-list. I would have considered that a great success.
When I turned pro in 1996, the norm for most guys was to play on Tour until they were in their early-30s. Then get a club job.
That only changed when Tiger Woods arrived and the money exploded. But when I turned pro my aim was to create a high enough profile that I could land myself a really good club job.
Even after you won so quickly?
Yes. I won the Spanish Open 10 weeks after I turned pro. I had six top-10s, three made cuts and a win in my first 10 events. I started off fearing that I wasn’t good enough to be
out there.
That sounds ridiculous now.
I know. But that’s where I was. That’s what drove me. I kept my head down and obsessively did my own thing, which is funny now.
At my very first event, I was using clubs that were four-degrees too upright and I got so dehydrated hitting balls for 12 hours in 40-degree Durban heat. I shook all night in my bed after that. I was so sick.
So you’re not that clever.
No (laughs). So I was thinking everything has gone wrong, but I made the cut and finished 46th.
I actually feel sorry for a lot of young lads who come out now. They are class players. They are physically gifted, but they just get lost. They turn up, play average and get discouraged. They’re just not used to pro life. Then they think they need to get better, which is a mistake. They don’t need to get better. They just need to get used to life on Tour. It is that easy to lose confidence.
I was lucky. The opposite was true for me. I thought making the cut was great. Then I made the top-10. Then I did it again. Then I won. For two whole years I played with blinkers. I was still so afraid that something was going to go wrong. I was the kid you tell, ‘don’t look behind, keep going.’
After two years on Tour, I took stock. What broke me was the 1998 US Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. I played my very best and my short game was brilliant. And I finished 27th. I had no more in me, that’s why I went to (renowned coach) Bob Torrance. I took a step back to make my long game better.
Where did you find time in the midst of all this to get married?
I was 18 when Caroline and I started seeing each other. I was already in college at the time. My wife is the most organised person. Even in my early days on Tour, players would come to her to ask what they needed to do to get into tournaments, or go on vacation, or how the world rankings work. She would know how it all worked.
Caroline is very sporty. She’s into it. And she loves to tell the story of how she beat me at badminton.
I think we need to hear that.
She was a good player, maybe county standard when she was younger. So we decided to have a game. ‘What could go wrong?’ I thought. There’s a racquet and something to hit. I can do that. I got seven points in seven games. She kept smashing the shuttle past me and laughing.
We played in a local municipal hall. There was a band practising nearby, so she was dancing as we were playing. I got a bit frustrated and we didn’t talk afterwards. I was not happy at her gloating. So yes, it’s safe to say she is competitive and she has taken that into my golf.
RIGHT: A young Paddy playing alongside his good mate, Jody Flanagan, in the Walker Cup. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Let’s talk about the Walker Cup. How do you look back on your amateur days?
At the time, you don’t really know what is happening when it comes to team selection. I was one of the lucky ones. I always got picked when I should have been, with one exception. I didn’t get picked for the 1994 Great Britain & Ireland Eisenhower Trophy team. Four good players were picked, but I felt like I should have been in there.
I looked it up. You beat Stephen Gallacher – who was picked – 4 & 3 the day before the team was announced.
4 & 3? Are you sure? There’s no way that was 4 & 3! It was 7 & 5, maybe 6 & 5. I’m going to check that out.
I had no problems with the four good players they picked, but I felt like I was out of sight in Ireland. I wasn’t alone in that, which is why things changed not long afterwards. Now the four home countries all have their own teams.
When you look at selection for amateur teams, I always think of the Maguire twins (Leona and Lisa) before a Curtis Cup. Ten players get picked. The first four are always automatic. That’s easy. Then there are four more – 5-6-7-8. Then another four – 9-10-11-12. That last four should be vying for the last two spots. Four for two. But because the selectors are all trying to get their own 9-10-11-12 players into the 5-6-7-8 group, they start arguing for those places early.
All of a sudden, 9-10-11-12 players are in at 5-6-7-8, which leaves four players that should have been in the 5-6-7-8 category vying for the two spots that are left, so you never get the best team. And every member of the committee walks out not really knowing why it happened. But they all say that there just wasn’t enough space for the obvious candidates that have missed out. That’s what happened with me and the Eisenhower. There just wasn’t enough space.
Warren Bennett was probably the best amateur at that time. Hardly any pros would hit the ball as well as he did. Lee James had won the Amateur Championship. Stephen had won the European Amateur. And Gordon Sherry was the fourth. All good players. But it was tough to miss out. That was the only team I never played on.
What is your fondest memory of your Walker Cups? Beating Tiger in foursomes at Royal Porthcawl in 1995?
I did enjoy that. I was playing with my pal, Jody Fanagan. We had been stalwarts playing for Ireland, so to win that match was a big deal for us.
When I look back, I was paired with Paul McGinley in 1991. But at that time I didn’t know Paul from Adam. Not really. He had been in America and he is five years older than me. They paired us together because we’re Irish. But that made no sense. Our games had nothing in common. Paul was always down the middle, mister steady. I was all over the place. I needed someone who could handle my game and he needed someone who was used to his.
That was the thinking back then, that a straight-hitter should play with a wild guy, which is such nonsense.
By the way, you and Paul have to be unique in that you have been partners in the Walker Cup, the Ryder Cup and the World Cup, which you won for Ireland.
That has to be right and we went to the same school. We lived about two miles apart in Dublin and his wife, Alison, is blonde like mine (laughs). She is unbelievably talented by the way. She can go a whole year without playing, then go out and play great. She’s so good she can’t understand why everyone else finds it difficult. She is phenomenal.
Turning to the Ryder Cup, you have had many different partners. You seem like the guy anyone could play with.
I bounced around a lot. I was the guy who said he would play with anybody and they took me at my word (laughs).
In hindsight, I maybe should have been more selfish. I look at my record now and it disappoints me. I started off flying in the singles and won my first three. Then I lost the next three. I lost my way in match play. Until 2006-07, I was a great match player, but after that I was terrible and I know why.
Up to 2006, I went into every game afraid I was going to get a hiding, which is how I was as an amateur too. In my mind, I hyped up my opponents thinking they were going to beat me. But later on – while I didn’t get cocky or conceited – I lost that mentality. Before, if my opponent missed a green I’d think he would chip-in. Later, I got cynical, thinking he couldn’t possibly get up-and-down from there. Then he would do just that, as I was three-putting.
I remember playing against Scott Verplank at The K Club in 2006. I went out there thinking he couldn’t beat me on that course. It was just too long, which was silly. Scott is a really good player. He had a point to prove that week and he played great.
Anyway, my point is that I played my best golf when I was scared. But I stopped being scared. I lost my edge. I got defensive. I lost my way. And I lost the ability to generate the fear I need to play great.
It strikes me that a big thing is made of the Europeans having a system in place, one that has clearly worked well over the past 30 years. Given that, is it difficult for you as the next captain to come in and bring something different to the process?
I’d like to come in and bring nothing new. In a perfect world, you do as Monty did in 2010. We’ve had good captions and bad captains. We’ve had good things happen and bad things. But it does seem that – starting with Monty – we have gathered a lot of good stuff together.
Probably the most pivotal moment in Ryder Cup history is Mark James not playing his rookies until the singles in 1999. Now, everybody knows that you must get your guys out on the course. Everybody knows that now. Mark tried what he tried, but it failed. Now, getting everyone playing before the singles is 101 on the play-sheet. The singles are really worth twice the points in a way.
Look, methods have to be tried. But it does seem that Monty really got things together in 2010. Then McGinley collated it all. Monty did it with passion. I don’t think he was that organised. But he didn’t do anything wrong. He convinced his team that every decision was a team decision and not his decision. When they really were his (laughs).
McGinley then put everything together. As a vice-captain, I didn’t learn much under Paul because everything was seamless. To be fair, everything he called turned out perfectly. I could see it all working.
I actually learned a lot more under Darren (Clarke) in 2016. Things went wrong there, often spectacularly. There was so much catching-up to do that week. We were losing. We were up against it on the golf course.
The thing with Danny Willett’s brother didn’t help.
That’s what kicked it all off. We were struggling before we started. Then we lost the first four matches.
Should we have sent Danny out and given two fingers to everyone? Should we have sent him out there because we didn’t care? He was the man. He was the Masters Champion. We could have told him to lead. That’s all hindsight, but I do wonder if we shouldn’t have told him to ‘go get ‘em, prove that you’re the best player we’ve got.’
There was a problem with all that though. Danny didn’t play well in practice. But many guys do that. Practice is useless. Guys hit too many shots. All kinds of things. So yes, we should have backed him and sent him out first. Then, if he didn’t perform, we could have sat him down. That would have been less of a blow. But he could have led the team. He could have been that guy.
And that was the problem right from the beginning that week. But the good thing was that I learned a lot that week, and so did Thomas Bjørn. We saw everything behind the scenes. Thomas really applied himself well when he was captain in Paris. He did a great job. We lost the first morning but there was no wondering what to do at that point. We were prepared for it. We were prepared for pressure. We were prepared for the ‘choke-point.’ There is always one of those, when you have to be ready to deal with anything.
We knew all that from what happened to Darren in 2016. There was mayhem at that stage. So, in France we knew what to do, when and where. We were ready, whether it was good, bad or indifferent. Thomas did a tremendous job of being ready for anything and everything.
What can you bring to the job with all that already in place?
I have my notes written. And I’ve picked up on things from all my Ryder Cups. More from my vice-captaincies. You see a lot more from the sidelines than you ever do as a player. Yes, a lot of what I do will be the same as what has gone before. But I have a couple of little things that I’ve seen … just a few little pointers up my sleeve.
You do need to bring your own personality to the job …
Yes. Every captain has to do that. Every captain has to be all things to all players. I have to know – and this is one of the harder aspects, something I need to work on – who needs an arm round his shoulders, who needs to be pushed out in front, who needs to be held in reserve and who needs a kick up the backside. The captain has to manage the players. He has to manage the coaches. He has to manage the wives. Everyone is part of the team.
One thing I was worried about is the fact that there was talk of giving me more picks. Think about this. Players who wouldn’t have been picked would be friends of players who did get picked. Can you imagine the internal strife if guys are thinking I should have picked someone who would have made a great partner for the guy I did?
But I’m not sure you can ever avoid that completely, especially if I had 24 guys to choose from. Lots of people don’t get picked, even when they legitimately could be. There are always a few guys you could make cases for. But if you give me eight picks, that number rises and that would be another thing to manage.
We saw something in another Ryder Cup that was really interesting. Paul McGinley told me this. The pressure he was put under because two of his vice-captains were 13th and 14th in line for picks. They were standing over the guys who did get picked. One of the vice-captains even gave a guy who was picked a lesson on the course. It was one thing for them to be there, but they should not have been anywhere near the guys picked ahead of them.
Paul felt intimidated by all of that. He was worried that his vice-captains might be biased against those he had preferred. It would have been easy for them to report back that player X was playing crap in practice, even if they were only sub-consciously biased. So, there are things to learn from. In every match we see little things that haven’t come up before and it’s my job to manage all that.
How much does the course come into who gets picked? As soon as I saw the course in Paris last time, Thomas Bjorn’s picks made perfect sense.
Yes. It does come into it. I have three picks. But it isn’t just a case of me picking the 10th, 11th and 12th best players. I’m picking three players to match up with the nine I already have – and the golf course. I might need a long hitter. I might need a straight hitter. I might need a partner for someone. I might need experience. I might have room for a rookie. There is always scope for someone to skip the queue.
The whole management thing is interesting. Just because I can play golf doesn’t mean I can manage.
McGinley broke the mould on that, to an extent. He got the job because it was felt he would be a great captain. He didn’t get it because he was a great player.
That’s right. But they really picked him because he told them he was going to be a great captain (laughs). He did an unbelievable job spotting that window of opportunity. But he delivered. Fair play to him.
It is actually going to be tough for the guys coming after me. We have a number of players, who have been successful in Ryder Cups who will want the job. But there isn’t enough room for all of them. Some notable names are going to miss out. And McGinley broadened the scope of who could be captain. So just being a great Ryder Cup player isn’t quite enough anymore. Being a major winner doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to be a Ryder Cup captain.
It’s a good problem to have though. It’s important to Europe that we get the best captains. But some guys are going to be disappointed.
Without mentioning any names, there have been one or two bad European captains along the way.
True. Monty was actually the one who put most on the line. His career was, to a large extent, defined by his record in the Ryder Cup. He never lost a singles match. The Ryder Cup was, and is, a big deal for him. He can hold his head high in any Ryder Cup conversation. But if he had been a losing captain that would have been diminished. I think Ian Poulter will have similar thoughts when, and if, he goes down that road.
One last question. Ireland has produced an extraordinary number of major wins over the last 15 years or so. Any explanation?
It’s incredible … extraordinary.
Every wants to know the answer to that question. But if we knew, we would repeat whatever it is. It’s cyclical though. There were more Scots than Irishman playing in the Irish Open in 2020. Yet, if you look back only a few years, it was clear that Ireland was doing so much better than England. There was outrage. Look at the English now. These things ebb and flow.
As regards the majors, my personality meant I had the ability to not believe in any sort of barriers. I’m not sure what it is about me, but I never thought there was a limit on anything I could do on the golf course. Not ever. But the Irish pros who went before me – even the better ones – didn’t have that same belief. If they were leading in The Open early on, they never believed they could go on and win.
I didn’t have the preconception that an Irish pro couldn’t win. I didn’t see it like that. I just played. And by me winning, it opened the door. Michael Campbell winning the 2005 US Open helped me. I saw him winning and I thought if he could do it, so could I.
Didn’t losing at Winged Foot in 2006 also help in that regard?
It did. Losing there convinced me I had the formula to perform at my best and win at the highest level without getting lucky. Before that, I thought I would need an outlier week where I would hole everything and win.
At Winged Foot all I needed to do was par the last three holes. But it was me doing it. It wasn’t an out-of-body experience and that gave me the confidence. No one told me I wasn’t allowed to do it and Michael’s win proved that to me.
If you look at Tiger winning, he’s up on a pedestal. And it was the same with Michael Jordan … Bob Rotella told me this story. A lot of players think Jordan is their hero, so they sit down and watch tape of him at his best. Then, Bob tells them to watch it again and look for all the mistakes he makes and they are everywhere.
But you don’t see mistakes when you watch Tiger winning a major – not when he is your hero. But they are there. And when I see Michael winning, it’s like it’s me.
Then, when I did it, the other Irish lads had the same feeling. They had all played with me. They could see that they could beat me. Seve did the same thing for the European lads back in the day. He convinced (Sandy) Lyle, (Nick) Faldo, (Ian Woosnam) Woosie, Langer and (Jose Maria) Olazabal that they could win too. They knew they could beat him on their good days.
I did that a bit for the likes of Martin Kaymer. I was there. I was accessible. I was real. It wasn’t as if I hit the ball 50 yards past everyone. I was far from perfect tee-to-green. I was “normal.”
Look, I know that is less true for someone like Rory (McIlroy). He’s a superstar. I have a feeling he would have won a few anyway (laughs). But I’m sure Graeme McDowell and Darren and Shane (Lowry) drew confidence from me winning. I made it real for them.
And so it goes on. If you are the best amateur in Ireland today, you can safely assume you are good enough to be a pro. And if you are the best pro in Ireland you are good enough to win majors. Before, the feeling was that you might be good enough to make a Ryder Cup team.
It’s all psychological and when I win a major at the age of 50, other 50-year-olds will think they can do it too (laughs).
Related Articles
Huggan: Confident tours wouldn't be bothered by LIV Golf
Playing From The Tips Ep.118: LIV Dallas, Rocket Classic, LPGA Teams, US Senior Open & more
