Talk to the great players about their chances of another tournament win and they will generally offer the same view. It goes something like this: "If I get into a challenging position down the stretch, I reckon I'll know what to do."
So it came as no surprise to hear Padraig Harrington offer his latest take on a familiar theme, when interviewed by the Golf Channel's Steve Sands in the wake of a marvellous play-off victory in the Honda Classic at PGA National.
From experiences bitter and sweet, players like Harrington are keenly aware of how difficult it is to get oneself over the finishing line. They know that some decent tour players have gone through an entire career without securing a win. Which means that the knowledge of having done it not once but numerous times, becomes a tremendous source of confidence when the competitive screw is tightened to almost an unbearable degree.
Harrington would have been further buoyed by the memory of his breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour in this same event, 10 years ago. And it, too, came in a play-off involving no less an opponent than the formidable Vijay Singh.
On that occasion at Mirasol CC, Harrington swept towards victory with a sparkling, course-record equalling final round of 63 in which he was actually 10 under par for the first 13 holes. It got him eventually into a play-off against Singh and Joe Ogilvie in which first hole of sudden-death saw Ogilvie depart the scene. Then, a par at the next, was sufficient to give Harrington the title over Singh.
Harrington came to have mixed feelings about what was unquestionably a crucial stepping-stone towards the Major successes which began to arrive two years later. In the immediate aftermath of his Honda triumph on March 13 2005, he had to cope with the devastating news that his father's cancer had returned and that the prognosis was bleak. Among other things, it led to a decision to withdraw from the BellSouth Classic, in between the Players Championship and the US Masters. And he also withdrew from the Shell Houston Open on May 18 to 24 of that year.
Against this background, one can imagine his thoughts when a closing birdie eased him into a play-off for the same title, this time against a raw, 21-year-old local lad named Daniel Berger. Whatever his spoken views afterwards, he must have felt seriously confident facing the play-off, even when it went to a second tie hole – the fearsome 17th.
He would have been aware of the tremendous pressure on his young opponent who, in front of family and friends, was attempting to secure his first tour win. And the memory of having made a mess of the same hole when he played it as the 71st, would have made Harrington all the more determined to get it right the second time around.
Though the actual shots from both players were very different from those of Harrington and Sergio Garcia on the 71st at Oakland Hills in the PGA Championship seven years ago, the impact of the Dubliner was precisely the same. On that occasion, it will be recalled that with both of them on the green, Harrington sank a crucial, 10- foot birdie putt which so rocked his opponent that the Spaniard didn't even threaten hole from four feet
This time, the Dubliner created the same pressure from being first to strike off the tee. Where he had earlier blocked a five iron into water on the right, he now took a six which he hit superbly to four feet behind the hole. In that instant, one could imagine Berger being rocked to the core, like never before in his young life.
The upshot was that he hit a tee-shot ruinously similar to the one Harrington had earlier struck. And with the same, watery outcome.
To be honest, I wondered if Harrington would ever manage to grace such a stage again, so long after his last significant victory. Among other things, it proved the extent to which he retained belief in unquestioned competitive skills.
Sent from my HTC Touch Pro2 on the Now Network from Sprint®.
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