THE MODERATOR: With Padraig Harrington at the 2025 Senior PGA Championship. What was your round like out there?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I think I played quite well kind of for the first, say, 26 holes. Then a couple of bogeys around the turn.
After that, I kind of got a lot better into what I was doing and played a lot more getting the job done and not really worrying about swinging the club well or playing well. It was nice to come home in 3-under par from there on in.
It's not like -- I hit some good shots in that time, but I hit a few bad shots, as well. It was just getting the job done at that stage. When it's this windy, that's probably the best mindset.
Q. What was the switch? What did you say the first 26 holes --
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I was playing well and hit most fairways and greens, and sometimes you get lost in that. After that, wasn't really -- it was a question of -- when I dropped a shot on 18 on the first, I'm just kind of knuckling down and really not caring too much about how I'm doing, just get it done. It was definitely a better mindset over the last seven or eight holes.
Q. Had you been working on something that you were --
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I'm always working on a few things. But I have been working on something. I was striking the ball well and liking what I was doing. But yeah, at times -- I think one of the worst things you can do on the golf course is judge and analyze, and after, let's say, 26 holes, I knew I'd missed two greens this week and hit a couple of par-5s. That was horrible information to have in your head. You shouldn't be aware of how many fairways or how many greens because we don't play fairways and greens, we play score.
Yeah, I was too concerned about -- again, you can ask yourself the question, would you rather be 15 feet away from the hole on the fringe or 20 feet away from the hole on the green. 15 feet on the fringe, but you've missed the green. You see what I'm saying? You get caught up -- when you're playing well like that, you get caught up in hitting fairways and hitting greens, which isn't always what you want to do on a windy day.
Sometimes missing on the short side in the rough on a tee shot to leave yourself -- like I hit a bad tee shot on 5-up the right-hand side, but I had only 150 yards left out of the rough, whereas if you missed on the left-hand side you probably had 190 yards. No. 4, that's the one I'm thinking of.
Sometimes a good miss is better than even a shot -- like if I hit it down the fairway, I might have had 180 yards, but I kind of cut across the dogleg. Even though it wasn't a good drive, it was in the rough, it was the sensible miss in the conditions.
Yeah, sometimes you've just got to get the job done, and over the last eight holes I was definitely into getting it done.
You know, it was pretty tough, and I felt I was slipping out of the tournament at 1-under par. Yeah, but I'm happy to have played my way in quite nicely.
Q. Are you saying judging a good round on a windy day you use different parameters?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No, every day should be just a score. You should never be analyzing a round as you're playing it. There's no doubt, the fact that I knew I'd hit lots of fairways and greens meant I was analyzing my round. In a perfect world you wouldn't even know what score you're shooting, you'd just be playing.
Yeah, I think for the last eight holes, I was, yeah, get it done. That was the main thing. Avoid any of the big misses and be clever with your misses. I think I did that and hit a few nice shots, as well, to make some birdies.
Q. You strike me as a guy, the majority of the times you do -- you don't analyze --
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I'm usually quite good at it because it's easier to do that when you're not playing well. You just get it done. I think I was playing well, and the fact I was hitting so many greens in regulation and things like that means you start to think about it. Whereas if I'd been getting up-and-down -- I'm not sure I haven't had a lot of chip shots because of that. I think in windy conditions, you've just got to get it up-and-down and do what you have to do. I made a very good up-and-down on No. 4, and I think if anything -- a good example of what I'm saying is you could hit it on the green to 20 feet and two-putt and walk off disappointed. No. 4 I missed the green and chipped up and holed my putt from eight feet, and I walked off the happiest man in the world. You can see what I'm saying. Sometimes on a windy day or any day, getting up-and-down, having a few misses and getting up-and-down cheers you up a lot more than hitting it to 25 feet and two-putting. It can be very hard to play golf when you're hitting it to 20 feet and two-putting, which I had been doing for the first, sort of, 26 holes.
Q. What were some of the key shots you played coming in?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Well, chipping and putting No. 4. I hit a pitching wedge into No. 4, and I hit it -- I've got to say, I think I pitched it -- I was trying to pitch it 152 yards and I pitched it 166 and it went another 10 over the green. It was a pretty strong wind at that stage, and I got up-and-down, which was very nice.
But even -- at least it had a chance. Sometimes you miss those greens. Like I missed the par-5, 6, and I hit my 5-iron long left, and I would say it could possibly be the first time in my career that I chipped out sideways and didn't go for a chip shot because sometimes you can short-side yourself with some of the pins. That one in particular, front left on 6, I would have marked down on my yardage book for the rest of my life, because I'll be coming back for the PGA Championship here, do not miss that left. I was afraid of chipping it in the water or leaving it short from where I was. That was a rare thing to ever see me chip the ball sideways out to 20 feet rather than have a good at it.
Q. You obviously played last week and you've got this week. Are you tired?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I could be by the end of the week. Mind you, I only had two rounds last week. I've been working very hard on my legs. The physio has been very diligent. I've been in there getting a lot of work done on my legs. I decided to train much harder on my legs. Instead of protecting my knees, which I've been having a lot of problems with for a number of years, I'm going down the road of strengthening them, and I think I'm winning the battle. Normally I could be through 13, 14 holes and I'm starting to have everything ache and pain, but I've been good this week so far.
I think, as well, if you're in contention in a tournament, you'll get through a lot. It's when you drop out of contention that things get harder on the body and things like that. I should be okay for two more days.
Q. Do you like your position through 36 holes?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I like being 4-under a lot more than 1-under, that's for sure. At 1-under I was feeling like I was -- like Ronan said it to me when we got through the first hole, he said, look, we've only played 28 holes. There's still a long way to go in this tournament.
But the problem with the Champions Tour -- this week we have four rounds, which is a huge relief, but the Champions Tour you've got to be near the lead nearly -- it's actually starting to show up on the PGA TOUR. You've got to be inside the top 10 if you're going to compete in these tournaments. Very rarely do you see people coming nowadays from well back. Years ago it used to happen, but I think they're pretty much showing you want to be in the top 10 nearly after day one, if not after day two, in order to have a chance of winning a tournament.
Q. It's a sprint on the Champions Tour.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Very much on the Champions Tour because it's 54 holes. 72 holes is obviously a bit better, but I think they're showing in most PGA TOUR golf now, you've got to be up near the lead. You don't have to be leading but you have to be near the lead going into that weekend. There's too much -- years ago I think players would stall up a lot more. Now the field does go forward, so you've got to be part of it.
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