Why focus on climbing the fairway, green can backfire

Another week of the PGA Tour title, another display cabinet at Padraig Harrington near the top of the rankings.

The 53-year-old Irishman has won nine wins on the senior track since his debut in 2022, and once again took part in the hunt at the Senior PGA Championship at Congress CC this week, with two shots in the hunt in the races of leader co-leaders Vijay Singh, Cameron Percy, Cameron Percy and Ye Ye Ye Ye Yeand.

Harrington is known for his knowledge and insightful fonts in his interviews, often providing thoughtful thoughtfulness to the state of swing, gameplay and even parenting. Friday is no exception, as Harrington shares his views on why he is focusing on hitting the fairway and the Greens, not always the best strategy in the round.

“I think one of the worst things you can do on a golf course is the judge and analysis,” Harrington said. “After, let’s say 26 holes, I know I missed two greens this week and hit a few 5 shots. That’s horrible information. You shouldn’t know how many fairways or how many vegetables, because we don’t play fairways and greens, we’ll score.

“Would you rather be 15 feet from the hole at the edge or 20 feet from the hole at the green?” Harrington continued. “Fifteen feet on the edge, but you missed the green. You saw what I was talking about? You were caught up – when you perform well like this, you get stuck hitting the fairway and hitting the green green, which isn’t always what you want to do on a windy day.

“Sometimes, you just have to get the job done, and in the past eight holes, I definitely have to get the job done.”

Windy conditions led Congress to conduct a tough test on Friday, which Harrington said ultimately forced him to forget the statistics and focus on putting the ball into the hole. In the second half of Friday, Harrington was three of the birds in the last five holes.

“It should be a score every day,” he said. “There is no doubt that you know I know the fact that I’m going to hit a lot of courts and green, and that’s my analysis. In a perfect world, you don’t even know what you’re shooting. Well, do some birdies.”