Padraig Harrington - Part 2 (The Early Years - Continued)

Music playing  00:00

Mike Gonzalez  00:15

Where were you learning the finer points of the game at this point? I mean, at least at least when you grew up, there was a lot more television and other media were

Harrington, Padraig  00:24

not really, you know, the only TV we had in Ireland back, you know, when it came to golf, you know, the open was full coverage and you'd sit there 12 hours a day, the Masters was your evening coverage and the Masters was a pivotal time in Ireland for golf, because it comes on in April. And that's the start of the competitive golf and season. Up to that. It's winter. Everything is the Masters is absolute line in the sand. Now we're into the golfing season, we're ready to play. So the Masters you watched, every hole was played and was real. Okay, we're ready to play golf. The open you watched and then the Irish open. So that was a, there was no other golf on TV in Ireland at that stage. So why wouldn't have grown up watching a lot of golf, I would have been would have been watching the recorder sports if they were actually to be honest, I wasn't a great watcher, I was much more of a player. I went out and played. So I will say I didn't have a lot of good golfing role models. My dad had an awful golf swing. And my two older brothers who were really good at that. So my dad went to all the products were really, really competitive. But all three of them had poor golf swings. So yeah, there was no good role model when it came to swinging the club. And you know what? I would have met Christie O'Connor Sr. playing in the Links, and the we used to have some winter outings. So I would have met him a source 16 17 years of age. You know, maybe I certainly didn't make I talk to him and ask them things,  but certainly did like Chris, he had a perfect golf swing, Christie senior, which would have been an easy swing to model itself of the two I didn't get to grips with that I looked backwards. Now. I never came across Jimmy Bruen. But I wish I had to know more about Jimmy Bruen and I knew we were long hitter. But I didn't know anything about my why. And certainly I think I should have made more and I could have made more of J.B. Carr. So J.B. Carr was a great ball striker. He certainly would have been accessible. But I didn't, I suppose I didn't know any better at that stage. You know, so there really wasn't any I didn't have. So it was very much my brother's anybody in front of me. It was who I could see I beat the if you put somebody in front of me to this day, if you if you came in and we play the game, any game, we played darts or we played snooker if you're a marginally better than me, I'd figure a way to beat me. Yeah. Now if you're way better than me, I'd lose interest. And if you're way worse to me, I'd have no interest. But if you were better than me, and that's how I did with all my sports and all my golf. I'd be trying to beat the person next to me. So as a kid, I'd be looking at that, like Gary McNeil. I be looking at the Bobby Kindred, just these guys around me I go, he's great at hitting an iron, I'd like to be able to do that. So I I wish I had I wish I had a no more. We had a national we had a national coach, Howard Bennett, who was fabulous for me. But again, it was more the psychology the game, you know, how I went about preparing and getting ready and competing and sharking. So we just didn't, you know, there just wasn't an emphasis on swing at all in my life at all, in some ways, as a pro when I got the better facilities and the better range balls and access, I became quite obsessive about golf swing, but it was more because I didn't have any adapt when I was a kid. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  04:08

Interesting. Well, as you go from you know, sort of the late 80s up through really the time that you decided to turn professional 1995 Quite an amateur record. And you know, we probably don't have time to go through everything but I sort of alluded to you representing GB and I There early on where you want it to Formby be I think he had a team when at Nairn and a couple of fun courses, by the way.

Harrington, Padraig  04:32

Oh yeah, we played some great courses in the junior internationals, we played all we've actually played some of the finest Links golf courses, especially the ones that are great, but can't hold an Open Championship. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Which are probably some of the better ones. We've played Prestwick. You know, places like that. You've played some absolutely fabulous courses when it came to British boys. interested enough. I never played the British amateur much. I played it once. Something like that. Maybe twice, because it was always a bit always card conflicted with my exams and accountancy. Oh, my exams were always at the same data as they as the east of Ireland and the British and the British, amateur so didn't get to play that much. played a lot of the team sports and probably my best record is paid to home internationals, which is Great Britain and Ireland, play in each other. And I never lost a singles match in that and never lost a singles match in the European Championships for our play for Ireland, so those sorts of things are, believe it or not, are very strong and me. I think I paid three Walker Cups. We won the last one, which I think was very important for me, I never liked leaving anything unfinished, you know, we I played three and I didn't want to leave without winning one, we'd lost the previous two. So it was a big deal to win that one in 95 and set me on the way to Turning Pro. I do believe there was a big issue at the time with turning pro. It wasn't it was really frowned upon from the amateur side. They you know, they thought you were turning pro you were you were dead to them, you're gone. That's totally changed now to get a lot more helpful and keep the even the guys that term profits. I think they've changed in Ireland to golf Ireland anyway now, which is a broader spectrum. Whereas back in the day, it was the golfing union Ireland was only amateur main. Then you had the ladies golf in union. And then once you were a pro you were you were gone. You're Yeah, it was no more so when I was turning pro, yeah, they would. They wouldn't have been happy to see me go. But I went, I was ready to go when I went in 95 and I seem amateurs. If you went to British Amateur you get an invite to the masters and you wait eight months. That can be the end of players you know, you always want to go when you're feeling good. You're feeling past your inform. You never want to hang around for any tournament because you can spend eight months practicing to shoot two 76's at the Masters. That ain't gonna do your confidence any good. No, no. So yeah, look, I went when I was half to play. I was top of my game. When I turned pro. I couldn't draw the ball, I hit a short pole coat off the tee could not throw the ball. I had an unbelievably short game, I went through nine rounds of qualified three versus I went qualifying which was three rounds to go to first or second. It wasn't a sequence. And that's in the first three rounds. I didn't fail to get down in to win. So I was inside 100 yards anytime in three rounds. Oh my. Wow. Yeah, I shot about seven on there for 54 holes on a horrible course for me with all these hazards that I don't like, but I need six rounds of towards school. I don't think I failed to get up or down or, or how to three put in six rounds. Literally. That's how good my short game was at the time. But again, I get a short Polikoff. So I get through to our school. I finished about 18. And I went to my I hope I'm not skipping ahead here, guys.

Mike Gonzalez  08:27

I'm gonna bring a cup experience. But But go ahead. Yeah.

Harrington, Padraig  08:30

So I went to my first well, back then you had to go to an orientation. I think they call it a polo week after the shafts used to sponsor maybe McGregor week at the time. And you went out to an orientation and all the tourists go guys. And we had three coaches there. So three coaches and three different experiences with the three coaches. So we had Tommy Horton, chip shots. Yeah, Tommy's view chip shots. And he, I don't know, I think I don't know if he true and in a divot, or he asked me to hit one and I put it in the divot. And I hit this flush out a divot. And he looks at me It says, Well, what did you do there? I said, No. I had no idea of the technique or how to chip. I just hit the show. It was probably the purest I've ever been or could be, as in sometimes you don't want information, but I could hit any chip shot. And even if he asked me what I was doing, I would have told you I was doing the opposite of what I was doing. I could hit any shot. So like chipping, just I love chipping. I spent all my time chipping, I could hit any shots. So then the two swing coaches were John Jacobs, and Dennis Gill so John Jacobs. Go to John. He says, Well, what you want to work on says, Well, I can't draw the ball. So John Jacobs just says, Oh, well, you just opened the door, close the door. He said, What do you mean? He says, Well, just imagine you're opening a door in the backswing. And then you're closing the door and impact, but you need to close the door. 60 inches before the bowl. So what's this? Okay, try that. So, I turn and then I turn back and try and turn as if the ball is six inches shorter, or where it is. And I hate this draw. You cannot believe how excited I was I could draw the bottle. Then, it was that week they released the great big birthday or No, not that week. They didn't release it. But I got access to a great big birthday. Yeah, so I probably gained 20 yards with a draw on 20 yards with a great big bird. I decided that I played for my first two years on tour. I used to hit like what a 40 yard draw like I started way right and hook it back. And people would be looking at me gone. You know, you can't do that. And I think it's a draw. I'm so happy. Like, unbelievable. Like I was very I would I would have been a short hitter. Now all of a sudden I'm I'm I'm a long Well, a decently long hitter, competitive that was very competitive. You know, there wasn't any good player who was hitting the past me with my with my draw. And that was John Jacobs. What was interesting. So Dennis Pugh. He did a video analysis. And he said to me, he would have been looking at my swing before my draw swing. And he says, right, we got to get the club on plane on the way down. So you want to set it here on the way down. I said fine. Now I had never had I knew nothing about the golf swing, like 24 years and knew nothing at all about development. So it's just fine. I came back the following year. And Dennis videoed it. That's unbelievable, brilliant job, you've perfect on any kind of thing. I'm really have never seen somebody change that as well as you've changed. Like, oh, yeah, this is what I worked on. And I was showing him what I was working on. I was working on exactly the opposite of what I should have been working. I was I was trying to flatten the club in the downswing. But I didn't understand what the plane was. And like, I would have actually been steeping in it. If I was doing what, but obviously the John Jacob straw was getting me to flatten the club on the way down, because I was hitting the draw now. So the golf ball will teach you anything you ever need to know if you respond to that. At the time, I had no idea that the technicality of a golf swing or I didn't know what I didn't know what I knew there was a swing plane but I didn't know what was correct simply because I just played off. So we had a different different I certainly a different person then than I have now. But he do evolve.

Mike Gonzalez  13:07

Learning to hit a draw life simple pleasures. Yeah.

Harrington, Padraig  13:11

In today's day, I love to go on a side slope and hit a draw. Say that to anybody put the ball above your feet. It's a beautiful feeling hit that push draw that you'll get off as often. You know, it's it felt at the bottom of your feet, just logging?

Mike Gonzalez  13:27

Well, let's I do want to take you back to your your Walker Cup experience. Because, you know, in those four years or so leading up to your decision to turn pro and eventually turning pro, you're learning more about yourself. But more importantly, you're probably learning more about how your game stacks up against some of the others that you're going to be competing with.

Harrington, Padraig  13:46

Yeah, yeah, you know, I wouldn't have said I had a great more of a cop career I played in 1991. I nearly made 89 Out of the blue. I see nearly always talked about but I was would have been way out of blue making 91 I made the team in Ireland. But I was a kid I was a little bit out of my depth. There's no doubt. I remember playing Alan Doyle and he was the greatest ball striker I have ever seen to this day. He's up there. And he definitely the best player I've seen in terms of ball striking for what use for what you see for expectation is a short funky swing and you think this guy is going to be March and it is as crisp as any ball striking as you would ever see consistency does phenomenal. I wish I actually could go back and look at him now because I'm sure I didn't understand how he was doing it in 91. Now I would have a better understanding to see what was going on in the swing. I could only see what you know that it didn't look like everybody else.

Mike Gonzalez  14:51

You had a foursomes match with McGinley and you against he and Jay Siegel, right?

Harrington, Padraig  14:56

Yeah. Alan Doyle played all the golf. He blew So now, I say you blew us away. We got two days sort of Walker Cup of absolutely perfect sunshine and no wind on a beautifully manicured Golf Course. Like Portmarnock was manicured perfectly, like we would be much better off playing them on on a blustery windy and, you know, unfortunately would have been nicer if they got the Golf Course in bad condition rather than go condition. But to us, you know, they beat us you know, I look back at that, you know, I was a kid I definitely didn't do do as well as I hoped and then 93 You know, we could win there I certainly would have been. I would have been or would have I would have I would have probably was our best player. But again, sometimes I went under the radar because I didn't know was not like the best player. Because I didn't have a nice golf swing. And I remember I compete with Tim parents in the single center was up, he was fine player tied with Brian Gay. Who was I think it was three or four, three to play against him. So the results weren't as good as they should have been. So going back to 95 then that was a lot better. You know, going out with with Jody Flanagan, who was my force for Ireland, we be Tiger and John Harris the first morning out. And you know, that was a big deal. At the time Tiger was the big star come on over. Yeah, that was appalling weather conditions that week. And we were

Mike Gonzalez  16:39

nicely. That was that was an

Harrington, Padraig  16:42

advantage is important. Yeah, it was in a bro port call and it blew, it was really not just blue. Sorry, it rained really heavily. They were our conditions. And it was nice. As I said, it gave a lot of closure to my amateur career to go away with a win in the walker call.

Mike Gonzalez  16:58

So you came out came out of that Walker Cup experience seeing the likes of a Tiger Woods and thinking okay, I think I can probably play with some of these guys.

Harrington, Padraig  17:07

No, no, I really didn't, you know, do us guys, we're on a different level still. Okay, you know, I was only looking at the at the European amateurs, the ones who were turning pro, I was only looking at my own teammates to gauge whether it was good enough to be European tour Pro. And I no wish our will. Our goal to be on the PGA Tour, my sole goal of turning pro was to get my card and survive for five years on tour. If you if you if you turned around to me when I turned pro and says you're going to have a five year career, where you're going to finish between 70 and 100. All five years, I would have said thank you very much. I'll take that.

Mike Gonzalez  17:53

Interesting. You know,

Harrington, Padraig  17:56

I would have come home and taken a club job which occurred back then you know, you're still still a tour player could still get club job the kind of finished couple of years after that, that you could easily get in. And that's what had been my aspirations. I had no idea. I was going to be as good as I was. I tell I can beat these guys. But that was about it. The amateurs who are turning pro I really thought the pros were we're going to be way better than that.

Mike Gonzalez  18:29

Yeah, well for our listeners, if you look at Padraig Harrington's record, particularly his amateur record, I'm sure he needs multiple trophy cases because there were so many more successes during this period of time leading up to him turning pro European amateur team championship including a being individual medalist, St. St. Andrews trophy, which is a competition between GBI and continental Europe again, winning it deal and winning in France. The Sherry Cup winning the West Ireland Amateur Championship, the Irish amateur open and closed championship. You mentioned the Leinster Boys Championship there were just a whole bunch

Music playing  19:07

on and on.

Harrington, Padraig  19:10

You reminded me there I did mention it earlier, to someone who I was as an amateur. I got the job done. Like put me in any conditions, I would get the job done. I won a lot of tournaments. I also lost a lot of tournaments because I was always there. So you said there was the leading medalist in the European team championships. So that's the qualifier to get into the match play stage of the European Championships. So this is when I'm 23 years of age. At that stage I hadn't lost in Ireland for 18 months. So I'm the leading qualifier in the European Championships and I was last minute for Ireland that we needed a score to actually make the qualification. So I was under pressure going out to shoot score to get as in there And I've led the qualifiers over two days. I beaten a friend of mine, Stephen Gallagher, beaten, I think I've beaten seven and five, I might have put down six and five, because, you know, I didn't get picked on the four man team two days later. So I've had the run of all of my whole career for 18 months. And I didn't make the Forman amateur team of Great Britain and Ireland. Stephen was picked. And he deserved to pick Gordon Sherry was the best was Gordon Sherry was picked. Warren Bennett was the best player we in the game in the armor game at the time. And Lee James was the amateur champion. So they all deserve to be paid. What I was overlooked with the record, I had it, I always think that I would have been better off if it was the masked singer, or would it be shows, if you couldn't see my gosh, I would have been rated a lot higher. It's funny, because you could see the way I played and it was pretty ugly. I didn't notice when I got the job done. And so I was judged on how I looked, rather than my performance clearly at that stage. And when I turn pro is very, very similar. I wouldn't judge myself that way. So when I turned pro, and I got an invite to play the European opening club in Ireland completely missed prepared for and it wasn't on the golf courses. Certainly it was on one of the stadium courses with the war for which I hadn't got to grips with at this stage. The case will be more like that. And I shot like 7676 domestic of my playing partner went into the media and anybody who would listen to and said, Why is this guy turning pro? He will never make it. And some people say to me, Well, what do you think about that? And they said, well, as a 50 year old if I saw this kid that I was at 24 I would have said the same thing. I was the ultimate pro who put it for her. You watch they say dogs that chase cars approach report for Perth. Yeah, would never last I was him. I look at myself now and say nowadays kid ain't making but one company. Maybe I was good enough. But lots of circumstantial things happened. So maybe John Jacobs given me the extra 40 yards off the tee that it felt like both probably the biggest thing I see pivotal thing and I see it now with kids turning pro. I had two things going for me. I matter how I played. Because I didn't have a perfect golf swing, I always thought there was room for improvement. Where so I was not a big optimist. Whereas if you come out as a young kid, and you've got a perfect golf swing, and the perfect ball striker, when you turn pro, you're going to hit 65 to 75% of fairways and 65 to 75% of greens because that's all pros do. And how do you explain to 25 35% of the ones do you miss? How do you explain if you've got a perfect swing? That you missed the call? How do you explain if you're used to be winning with the perfect golf swing? And now nobody cares about you because you just won 156 Guys this weekend, you know, literally you just absorbed it. So those kids lose their confidence very quickly. Whereas I was in beautiful I was, wow. I can do this too potential for me to get better. So there was always a great optimism. So my first event as a pro, my first as when I got my card, my first event on tour. So I Gosh, I'm playing the Challenge Tour event in Nairobi, Kenya and on the Monday a word comes to Golf Course that a spot has opened up on the full European Tour event in Durban contact of the PGA Championship in South Africa. It's a European tour event. So I think five or six guys said no. I said I'll take I'll go. So I was next in the ranking. So I flew under Tuesday. I wouldn't have been in the program on Wednesday, but I practiced for 14 hours in the 40 degrees because that's the sort of thing I do. So I was very very sick that night. Like I was so badly dehydrated. I'm sure I should have been in hospital, you know, on a drip, but you didn't do that back then. I didn't even know that existed. So I was in a horrible place that night. But I had a late tee time the next day. I played by the local caddy. I remember he had a big wound on his on his ankle heel and he used to put car grease on it. Wrap it with a dirty rag. He wouldn't talk to me if I made a bogey. He wouldn't let me pick the ball out of the hole. If I made a birdie. I had a new contract with Maxwell I variable VHL. If anybody remembers variable length for variable has a lead. So a brand new set of irons, and there were four degrees to upright, so I had to grip them on the steel. I'm playing Durban Country Club, which is known for exceptionally tight. And it's also got Kukui grass, which I've never played on before. So I'm out there playing unfamiliar conditions. I'm sick. I've got clubs that are terrible. I've got a Katy who knows nothing about me or anything. And I play horrendous based on all those things. But of course, I chip and put every hole because that's what I do. So the chip and importing is a given. So I don't even recognize that as I didn't that the time. I remember having this conversation with somebody. I could literally chip and putt every hole and come in and say I play terrible because I judge everything on how I hit the golf ball. Because the chip and putt knees are given. So chipped and put my way around for four days. I've made the call. I finished 48. And I want to tell them 460 pounds. I rang my mother and it was a pay phone in 1996 I rang my mom, I said, Mom, you will not believe it. I play terrible. Everything went wrong this week, I finished 48. I want 1460 pounds, they are just giving it away. Think about what I could do no worse. And I'm in the money. I've made the cough. Yeah. Can you imagine the feeling which you see these young guys have now where they play well, and they miss a cough. And now they're all stuck. They're gone? I played well. And I missed the court. What do I need to change? Whereas I'm thinking, Well, my worst is actually good enough. How good is this? So immediately, I became comfortable in that environment. I made six courts three top 10s in a win straight off the bat. Because I would say for two years. I kept my head down. Didn't question. And I'd say every other pro was looking at me going, how is this guy doing this? How is he possibly shoot those scores, where he's played the Golf Course from as wild as I was because I was hitting a big hook off the tee. There's many greens in this, I would, it wouldn't rattle me, no matter how I played, I get up and down. And I didn't know. And it's only 50 years of age that I now realize. There are people who play this game, that if they hit a bad shot and a whole take they deserve to make a bogey. It's really weird. I had none of that preconception. I did not believe. Like, there was nothing that said that. You played this whole badly you deserve x y Zed I had none of that taught me the job was hit the next shot as well as you can't matter how badly I hit the shot before I still was trying to hit the next shot. And I just kept my head down. And really, I was a quiet kid. I didn't. Thankfully, I didn't know what other people thought. I just did play home game. And that was a great place to be when you're when you're when you're in a place that you're you're just doing your thing. I'm believing as well. Being an optimist, believing everything was gone, going to get better is improving, obsessive about improving and getting better. But it was I just got it up and down from everywhere. And to this day. As I said, I can be really good. And the short game has been brilliant throughout my career. But it was never as good as it was those first couple years when I turned pro.

Mike Gonzalez  28:51

So Padraig before we jump in your professional career, I thought it might be a good time to just have you reflect back on some of the other great Irish players that you would have either heard of growing up or seen particular in their later years, or in the case of some of the younger guys had a chance to play with and compete against I guess I'll start with a guy that you mentioned earlier on in our visit and that was a guy that I'm sure Bruce knows quite well. Christy O'Connor senior.

Devlin, Bruce  29:19

Oh, I do. I got one quick story for you, Padraig about Christie O'Connor. Right.

Harrington, Padraig  29:25

We always like to hear to hear the stories of the man himself. Well, I'm

Devlin, Bruce  29:29

not really telling a story about the man himself. I'm just reiterating a story that happened after the open. You know, we'd go to Ireland for Christie's Pro and right. And back in those days. I'd like to have a little drink after around and we went to the party this night. And one of the deals were that all the players that went to his program donated something right. So Jerry Heard was there and I Was I forget who all the guys there but plenty of them and I was sitting at the table with the guy that was doing the auctioneer, the auctioneer guy, right? So the first thing up is Jerry herds brown cowboy hat, right? Okay, so this guy is fiddling around talking about $20 for this and you know who's got I said, Excuse me, sir. I took the microphone off him and I said, Okay, I'm gonna start this bidding I bid 300 pounds for this hat. My that's my bid. Anybody got a bigger bit? So before before that had was sold, the guy that opened his big mouth ended up paying 700 pounds for it. Okay, so we made a lot of money. We made a lot of money. What year was that? Oh, that would have been 68 or nine something like that? Yeah. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. That

Harrington, Padraig  31:03

was Sasa wheel and run it was a couple of things that happened in in amateur golf in Ireland. That's that's I don't know if it's different, but certainly made a difference. So pretty competitive in Ireland, we've a lot of good competitions, whether it's into clubs, inter counties, you know, provinces championships, scratch cups, so there's a lot of competition. As a junior, would you make it into the international junior level, I've never paid agreed in Ireland. So it's free. I could go to my order Junior internationals, play their Golf Course for free with them. So we could compete. You know, it didn't mean I had to stay in play with average golfers in my job, I could go and compete with the other good players. And it meant if I was playing, this is the second thing. We had a lot of winter leagues, the Links golf society, which Christie Senior was was the president was the probably the biggest, but it meant I could play in all these league competitions. And I'd only be paying 10 pounds, I wouldn't be paying the green fee. I'd be paying the competition engine fee, but not the green fee. So your business man who's playing and he would be paying the 100 pounds to play because he's paying the green fee, I'd only be paying the competition fee. So again, even though you had no money, you could play, keep playing and play everywhere as a kid. So Ireland's would be really good for that. And Christy a good competitive environment, Christy was, I would have got to play a little bit with Christie, I would have been paired up with them a few times when I was 15 years of age 16. He was a beautiful player to watch it, like you know, he still practice at that stage. And you could see him hit on the range. And he can't draw up the fade here drawing it if he really hated to say he was talented, then you'd be very careful not to say that, you know, you'd say it once. And you'd make sure you never said it. You know, he wanted you to know that his beautiful swing was the result of hard work and nothing but hard work. And it was a five like, I would have known him, like in his late 60s And he had a fabulous swing at that stage. You know, it still was there. It was a thing of beauty. And but it was hard work. He would tell you that himself. You know, I know when he played he might have been it's hard to work hard during his actual playing days. But to get where he was. It was a lot of hard work down and when he was an assistant pro at the beach. So yeah, that was interesting. I knew we would go out for words, we would have I would have got to play with a lot of the tour pros that were on the European tour at the stage likes at Des Smith and Philip Walton they would have been played these Links golf societies as well. So again, you'd have been paired up with them. And the great thing of it is I beat on these given days because I'd be trying like hell and they're obviously not used to come back to the yeah, pretty poor condition. So yeah, that's good for your confidence. So all the Irish tour pros, I'm remember at the time, we had a fabulous legacy when I was growing up in the 80s with the Ryder Cup so if you went to Christie's home course where these some of these events programs would have been, he had his 10 Ryder Cup bags there, if you know Eamon Darcy holed the winning 97 Christie O'Connor Jr. to our that was 85 or 89. And obviously the world's had the hold the winning putt 95. So we had wrote a lot of Ryder Cup legacy in Ireland, I've got to say, and you got to mix with these guys. There was a familiarity they played and they were normal guys when you played with them. So that was quite I think that quite important that the smallness of Ireland is very helpful when it comes to to protecting and growing a player? I, you know, it is yeah, does a lot of easy enough to meet your meet the stars. And even nowadays, you know, I would know and you would meet the younger guys coming true all the time like I like even like Leona Maguire, I would meet the owner from the age of 12. I think I met her every year. There's always award ceremonies in Ireland, two or three charity events at the end of the year. So I would have met McGuire twins from, you know, a narrowly HD video up and coming players. So you get to see, it's a small community. And I think that is very beneficial for mining and developing players in this.

Devlin, Bruce  35:47

Some of the younger guys today.

Harrington, Padraig  35:51

Yeah, I, you know, they come to me now. I'm Christy O'Connor Senior at this stage, I have made it known that I, as a kid, I remember getting a lesson off watching Sullivan, do you ever come across watching while he was a decent player? More of a club Pro? And, you know, he warned me off. He says, you know, tell someone something to somebody something today, you know, they'll use it to beat it tomorrow. And I certainly I certainly would have had that attitude as a young kid on tour, you know, it's all mine, keep it to myself, as if I knew if, as if I had a secret. You realize when you get older, but notice everything you know, has been trying not as everything you do. It's there's no secret in the game of golf. It's just your ability to apply the age old things. If you apply them you're the best. But there's no secret to so I'm quite happy. Any of the young guys come through. If they ask, I will, I will. I will help them work with them and tell them the mistakes I made and, you know, encourage them because I know at the end of the day, it's their responsibility to do it. So I'm not I don't mind giving it because it's up to them after that.

Mike Gonzalez  37:08

Let me ask you about a couple of the other older guys and I would expect this to be interesting for our listeners particularly because you're the first guest for a first Irish guest that some of this history we just haven't covered so guys like Fred Daly did you have much exposure of Mr. Daly? Oh,

Harrington, Padraig  37:26

no. before my time. Yeah, I wouldn't have wouldn't had. You know, you tend to be odd story about about Fred, but not just I would have heard more, you know, not Fred. No, not at all actually, again. Yeah.

Devlin, Bruce  37:44

You know, really start with Christie. Yeah, Christie.

Harrington, Padraig  37:46

Because he's my hometown. You know, I'd see him i J.B Carr, you hear stories hear stories about Jimmy Bruen did Jimmy Bruen stories I always ignored as if there were fantasy. As if you know people were making the most I would have liked to invest it, you know that that the J.B. Carr content, obviously talked to too crazy. That's fair enough. The J.B. Carr, I had access that I never thought I didn't realize much about him are as good as he was. And that's certainly a resource that as a kid, I wish I wish I could have got a little bit more out of talking to his sons. Now we will obviously be familiar with Rodney and Marty and, and that, you know, they tell me about what his dad was telling them. And they go whoa, I could have been I would have liked to hit dad was JB was ahead of his time, very much ahead of his time, you know, where he is was telling his kids is what I'd be telling kids now. And I didn't hear that. 30 years ago. I wish I had access. I had access and I didn't take it put it like that.

Mike Gonzalez  38:57

Yeah, yeah. And how often does that happen? Guys were you think back to your early days the people that you had some interaction with you wish you knew then what you knew now?

Harrington, Padraig  39:07

Yeah, clearly, they obviously have an influence but it's so easy recruits the senior because he had a perfect golf swing. And you could see it there again on his record, do you think Well, that's the one put orders you really like like the Allen Doyle, like I just didn't understand Allen Doyle, and there was a lot to be learned from Allen Doyle. 100% at that stage. You know, maybe it's somebody like Allen Doyle. If I was playing golf with him day in and day out, I would have got more out of it. But and that's what I kind of think I should have done. You know, J.B. Carr would have been at a stage that you know, probably would have been happy to mentor somebody. And he was always very nice to be very, you know, he wouldn't be old enough. 30 years ago, 40 years ago, we could 35 years ago. Certainly somebody like that was definitely something I look back and go walk out there with somebody Hey, Peter Towns out in Portmarnock he could have been somebody another like he was a fine golfer fine swingers club. You know, there were certainly people there. And in the end of the day, those influences are on somebody who I'm competing against them playing with anyway. So that drift stay down to you. You know, you have people like, you know, the Darc Eamon Darcy, he, he would have been close enough to home, he would have been insistent that a local club and is on top dog and he's not I would have played as a kid. So a lot of stories about him and a lot a lot about them. So he would have had some some fair influence on everybody in their locality. He was a great ball striker with a funky swing. Yeah, see? Well, yeah. Yeah. You know, incredibly. We were so I was so naive. I'd look at the funky swing and see the bit at the top and think well, that's not great, but you know, 18 inches shorter and evolved to aid NHS true. He was good strikers you get? Yeah, and you just didn't realize what you could learn from everybody. And, you know, ultimately, the reality of things is the ball talks. If the balls do there's something to be learned. Yep,

Devlin, Bruce  41:15

absolutely.

Mike Gonzalez  41:16

I mentioned Fred Daly. Of course. Some of our listeners might remember he was the first Irish winner of the Open Championship back in 1947. Des Smith of course, we talked about how about Harry Bradshaw

Harrington, Padraig  41:30

got to bring Pete he definitely was was a much bigger influence. Again, he was he was a little bit ahead of me age wise, but the people he was who he had influenced I was playing golf. So he was it influenced all the people does that it does the head of me that I would have been trying to compete with out there in Portmarnock. So I directly wouldn't have had any any any lessons or any influence but the people around the people eat coach definitely. Were people I was competing with and definitely would have somehow I would have learned a bit from from Harry Bradshaw.

Mike Gonzalez  42:03

Yeah, yeah. Probably. You probably know this story of him from the 1949 Open Championship at Royal St. George's. Why don't you tell our listeners that story?

Harrington, Padraig  42:15

Yeah, you know, Royal St. George's say he hit his ball. It wasn't the last round. It was

Mike Gonzalez  42:21

the second round on the fifth hole. Okay, you know, number five, that little dogleg left

Harrington, Padraig  42:25

into a bottle, and at the time, was considered rub-of-the-green, that ball was in the bottle. And he had to take a penalty out of it where it will be a free drop in marketing game because it would be an outside agency remind me to get get relief from it. He didn't get relief, and he went on to lose by shot.

Mike Gonzalez  42:46

Yeah, he ended up tying Bobby Locke and then lost in the 36 hole playoff to Bobby Locke.

Harrington, Padraig  42:52

Yeah. You know, that story was told a lot. And I will say to you what I had an influence, I had a huge or never mentioned this in my amateur career. I used to really be intimidating to my amateur playing partners, my partners as in my foresomes partner, and my partners in stroke play and my opposition because I was really into the rules. Because of incidents like that. I really wanted to know all the rules of golf and know all the little intricacies. My father was the go to man in the golf club for the rules if there was the rules decision. And regularly we would sit down if anything silly happened in the golf club, it will be discussed over dinner. And it was interesting. It used to drive my mother up the wall because she didn't play golf at the time. And she said, No golf at the dinner table. But sure enough, every night, some crazy ruling would come up, and it'd be thrown out what you do. And we'd all be discussing it and getting through. It got so bad that my motor had to take off so that she could join the conversation. And the interesting thing about this and you guys will know this and I do hope it's changing. So my mother is a member of the golf club for 1213 years, you know, fully involved in the golf club. She decides to take a playing golf so she wouldn't go play golf at the Golf Course. At that stage because she felt an outsider when it came to the golf she felt she wasn't good enough. So myself and my mom used to go to a local poetry course. In a public park and play play that course onto my mother felt good enough to go out and play with the other ladies. The ladies Council is exceptionally intimidating in golf clubs. It really was back then. So she took a good year of playing the poetry course before she would go and play on The big horse with with with our fellow members even though she knew them and was there for, you know, a dozen years previous so it was good for me I got an extra nine holes in in the evening time. And amateur wise, my very, very last ever amateur event. I wonder modern song with my mother. Oh really? Yeah, very last thing I ever did as an amateur. And I had a hole in one that day. It was a handicap event and we won by half a shot. Oh, my. After finishing third, second, and then first and like I did with my last go. I have never mapped the Golf Course is hard and never worked as hard to on a Golf Course, as I did that day. I was hit, hitting over here hitting it there playing the strategy that came into play. To win that again. It was second to none.

Mike Gonzalez  45:54

Bruce Devlin what a delight to have Padraig Harrington with us today.

Devlin, Bruce  45:58

Yeah, he's, we look forward to it, Padraig for quite a long while we're happy you're here with us and, and we look forward to telling the rest of your story.

Harrington, Padraig  46:09

Yeah, actually, I've enjoyed it. I you know, it's not often because of my success as a pro. I don't get to talk about my amateur career, which was a huge part of my life. So I'm really delighted that you've asked me and I probably talked a little bit too much, but I did enjoy it.

Mike Gonzalez  46:26

Thank you for listening to another episode of for the good of the gates when I'm pleased wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify. If you like what you hear, please subscribe. Spread the word. Tell your friends until we tee it up again. With the good of the game. So long everybody.

Music playing  46:46