Padraig Harrington - Part 5 (The Olympics, Ryder Cup Captaincy, Senior Golf and the WGHOF)

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

All right, so three majors in the back course of the five years. I'm sure a lot happened between that PGA win in 2008 and your next big win, which came at the 2015 Honda Classic, as Bruce generally likes to ask between ages 37 and 44, Bruce.

Bruce Devlin 0:32

What was going on, Padre?

Padraig Harrington 0:36

Life. Yeah, no, well, you you could say that, but I played my best golf in 2009. No doubt about it. I had a great year at high aesthetics cup position. Uh challenged in a lot of the majors. Had a pretty good chance uh in the Wai Yang major, the PGA that year. Uh I remember I was there about again preferring really well, getting in the zone. I think I took triple bogey at the eight hole that day and still managed to get myself in with a bit of a squeak on the back nine. Uh, you know, so I I I it it's it's one of those fallacies people think they look at results and assume that's how you played. And as I said, uh 2008 I actually hadn't played well. 2009 I played great all the way through, uh, but no wins. 2010 I played well. Uh I wonder, you know, I often wonder 2011 going into the US Open uh I it was congressional playing great, and I remember Adam Scott did an interview on the Wednesday, and uh paraphrasing here, but basically said there's no point in anybody else turning up this week, Balder Carrington's gonna win. Did you hear me, dog, over the back of that? I hope you didn't. Anyway, basically Adam said, you know, he just played a practice round, I I was gonna play so well. And if you remember, Rory blew us blew us away that week. Just completely blew us away. And I I I I often wonder, you know, I get into these searching modes and and all of a sudden the game changed overnight. You know, Rory was the first guy to who was a long hitter to use his long hitting. Up to that the field had convinced all the long hitters to play like short hitters. Now all of a sudden with this long hitter who's hitting driver. And you can't believe how much it changed the game. All the long hitters, like I've been you've been playing with you know your Bubba Watsons and your your Dustin Johnson's, and they used to hit irons off the tee. Now all to the same place we'd hit our drivers. Now all of a sudden Rory's just blew us away at Congressional. And there's no doubt, if you look at me, that would have certainly changed I wanted me that I I no longer got to the golf course to a major and thought, hey, if I play my game I can win this. I went back into that mode that mode of hey, if I play my game, I need to get lucky to win this. Now interesting, I did change coach um 2012. Yeah, 2012, and statistically, 2012 was my best ever year T degree. Uh I started working with Pown. So that that was the best I ever played T degree, but I I had the yps at that stage, you know. Uh you know, and that followed me around for a good few years. Uh we all sort of run out of steam at some stage. But pretty much, if you look at most careers, most careers last 20 years. Uh up to my age group, they they do start younger now. You know, four or five, six, seven years getting ready, then they play pretty decent. They have 18 months where their superstar, you know, play a level or probably two levels above themselves, and then they gradually regress. They're never as good at that period, they regress afterwards, and you know, from about 15 years to 20 years, you know, they're burnt out. People don't know it, they don't see it, but you know, the player will know it. And and I and I I was well aware of this. I'd seen this in everybody's career, you know. By the time I was playing a few years as a pro, I recognized this, and I felt right into the same pattern myself, and I even knowing it, and by 2015, I was well and truly burnt out. 20 years in the game, I got my outlier of a win. Uh, but like you can't believe, you know, 2013, 14, 15, how hard I was trying on the golf course. I I'd come in and I I'd have worked so hard to shoot like 72, 73. I'd be playing with guys and I'd be nearly embarrassed. Why am I out there? You know. Uh luckily at one of the I remember playing with, you know, and you're getting bad draws, it's not bad, you're getting the worst of draws. I remember playing with two lads and they came in, and I'm I'm working so hard, grinding so hard to shoot like one over par, you know, always on the cut line. I remember sitting down afterwards having lunch and me thinking I was in the way, and the guy saying how excited he was to play with me, because I was a major champion, and it you know, he watched me and growing up with me. So that that was a big help. That you know, when you're when you're not playing well, you feel like you're in the way. You feel like you're a bit but that kind of was a big help, and and what really changed was by the time I got to say 216, 217, it you know, it was all really hard again, and you know, I wasn't making it to the FedEx Cups and things like that. And I remember I went home in the playoffs and I played in Europe, and I played Prague for the Czech Masters, I played Cron Montana for the European Masters, I played Hamburg for the German I'm not sure it was German, it wasn't German Masters, German Open, but it was Hamburg, uh, then Amsterdam and then London. And I've been playing those Irish guys on tour, so I was out there and every night I was going out with the Irish guys and we were and I enjoyed myself. I had five really enjoyable weeks, and it was a big change for me in 2017 because I realized I actually enjoy playing golf, I really enjoy playing golf. So, why am I making this so hard for myself? Why has it become drudgery? And it really was. It was I was you know, really tough, hard, and that that's my personality and beating myself up. So I kind of had a look at it and says, Hey, look, you know, and this time you might have seen I did a bit of commentary, I toyed with a bit of coaching, you know, what am I going to do? And I realized actually I really like playing golf, really like playing golf, and I'm playing in the best venues, best resorts, all the way around the world. So, what's making this a grind? So I basically looked at all the stuff that was making it hard, you know, and got rid of it. You know, so back in the day, you know, I'd be up three hours before my tea time and I'd be working out for 45 minutes with the physio for 30 minutes, another 20-minute dynamic warm-up, and that's all running around. I couldn't keep the pace up. I just couldn't keep it up. I couldn't keep up with the level I was at as a young man. And so I got rid of it. And you know, I'd say this to any person out there who's at the age of retirement, you know, maybe you don't need to retire, maybe you need to just get rid of the stuff you don't want to do and keep doing the stuff that you like doing, that you're experienced doing, that you're good at doing, that you've learned over 40 years to do, why throw all that away just because you don't like doing some of the rubbish? Uh so I got rid of the rubbish, and I just I describe it very simply like this. Back in the day, if the Irish lads said to me, Hey, we're going out for dinner at 8 o'clock, I would have looked at my watch and said, You know what, lads, I've got to go to the gym, I've got to get physio, I've got to get my sleep, I've got to eat right. Remember, I didn't eat red meat for 10 years, I didn't eat a burger for like 15 years, I didn't eat French fries for 15 years. Like I, you know, I was on the edge of trying everything to be a better athlete. And now, if the lads said to me, you know, so if they said that I'd have made an excuse and not gone. Now, if the lads said we're going out for dinner at 8, I'll change my plans because that's what I need to do. I need to enjoy my life out on tour to make me play better golf. I can't now it's interesting as I've played a little bit better, the temptation to go back to the old me is there and and to work harder, because that's you know, that's me. But I know that to get over the burnout, I've got to have I've got to be a slightly different person and and make a bigger effort to enjoy the lifestyle. You know, back in the day, I just I just stay in the closest hotel to the golf course. That's it. What's the closest hotel? Because I want to practice, I want to spend more time at the course. You know, I ain't doing that anymore. I'm staying at a nice hotel now. I'm not, you know, what you're not life. I yeah, well, that's it. Well, it it it I know uh this is how I can enjoy myself. You know, if I enjoy it, I'll play better. And and this has changed a change around, and I'm having the I know in the championship it's a nice resurgence because it's it's obviously a a a different pace, a nicer pace. It's certainly much much more fun to be at the top of the leaderboard than it is to be on the cut line all the time. Uh but you know, some of that is I had to change my lifestyle.

Mike Gonzalez 9:39

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, shortly before you had this epiphany uh uh in finding uh renewed uh enthusiasm for the game, you did have the opportunity and I guess the honor of representing Ireland in the Summer Games when the golf game returned to the Olympic Games to down Argentina. Uh we talked to Peter Dawson recently, who was quite instrumental in that, and and I wish we had time to talk about that experience, but we really need to touch quickly on your champion's career and then get this closed out to in time for you to be able to do that.

Padraig Harrington 10:10

Look, we're going to talk about the Olympics because I I worked let's talk about I worked with Peter Dawson on that, and I really feel validated because we I I had to go to Congress and speak. Uh I was one of the people myself, Michelle Wee, I remember Peter, we all and it was very very intimidating because you know they didn't really a lot of people didn't want us in there because we're golf and you know uh everything that golf stands for at the time, you know, especially uh can be a bit elitist. So uh it was quite intimidating, but I I really wanted golf in uh in the Olympics. I could see what it would do for golf, and you know, back at the time a lot of players came out against it, didn't think it should happen, and you know, it's only taken three Olympics for now every player to be well, most players anyway, to be raving about it. Uh so I'm I'm very it I'm very very proud to be ahead of the game and to realize how important it is, and and I I I'll tell you exactly how important it is. If I go to uh let's say a for example, an Eastern European country, but if you go to an Olympic-based country, right, a non-golfing country actually would be a better way to describe it. If I'm introduced to the to people in that, so if I'm doing some sort of hospitality with it, they will introduce me as Olympic athlete, three-time major winner, because the Olympic athlete is what they know, that's how they establish what a person has done in sport. Okay, in a golfing country, I'm always going to be a three-time major winner, it's always going to come first, but it was very important for golf if we want to expand to go into these countries and have an Olympic sport purely for funding. So, you know, you're not you're not entitled to funding in these countries unless you're you're you're part of an Olympic sport. So it was huge for golf. I love the fact that players love it and want to play it. Uh and and it's a little bit validation, which we never mind that either. So uh Peter was uh was ahead of himself, and I'm delighted he he asked me to be part of it, and I'm delighted I was part of it.

Bruce Devlin 12:16

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 12:17

And he was quite complimentary of the role you and Michelle and the others played in making the case for uh for having that sport return to the game.

Padraig Harrington 12:25

I love talking, but it was quite intimidating because you have to do a two-minute speech and it's not allowed to be two minutes one second, it has to be and it's not allowed to be one minute fifty-nine seconds, it has to be two minutes, and it has to be pre and it has to be pre-translated. So you can't go off script.

Bruce Devlin 12:42

Uh-huh.

Padraig Harrington 12:43

Whereas I normally talk without a script. So you I just wander around when I'm talking, and if I miss something great, I'll come back to it. But that it was all pre-translated, so you had to get it right. So it was it was definitely very intimidating and very different, uh, but uh so well worthwhile. I'm delighted I got my chance in 2016 to play. Uh and forevermore, I can tell everybody, and I love telling everybody, I'm an Olympic athlete, especially love telling the kids that I'm Olympic athlete.

Mike Gonzalez 13:09

Yeah. All right. Well, you still had some regular tour golf to play uh after that 2016 Summer Olympics in Argentina, including your final one on the European tour in the 2016 Portugal Masters, but maybe the best was yet to come because you then had the honor of representing as captain Team Europe in the 2021 COVID-delayed Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

Padraig Harrington 13:37

It's been an interesting time since 2016. As I said, I I kind of knew I liked playing golf and I had to change my outlook. Looked a bit of commentating, looked at a bit of coaching. Uh but yeah, I want to go play golf. I just still love it, fascinate with it, still dream about finding the secret. Uh but the Ryder Cup came first. It was ideal time. Um, I will say my ego probably got the better of me. It was perfect timing for me to take the captaincy, but you know, for 2020, taking the captaincy, it's a tough one if you take a uh an away captaincy. And uh we had a great team in 2020, and you know, the year of COVID didn't help us. Uh, you know, by the time we got there in 2021, there had been a big resurgence in the US team. They were pretty weak in 2020, and uh, you know, we got it handed to us in in whistling straits. Obviously, no no fans at all, no home fans, all obviously just US fans. There was lots of things, but they were a better team on the week, no doubt about it. Uh, yeah, uh, you know, my team to a man said they had a great week. We did everything we could to make it a great week for them. Um it's very disappointing that we lost, and and you know, it's actually quite brutal that we lost because if you're a losing captain, you're a losing captain. That's just you know, there's no you you know, it's a tough one. It doesn't matter how good a job you did, you know, there'll always be reasons if you lost why you lost, and people will, you know, you know, that's just the nature of it. You could be there has been bad captains who've won, and there's been good captains who've lost, and vice versa. You just get judged in your results, and it was a pretty brutal loss. So uh yeah, it's a tough one to take. Uh we kind of just have to move on. I'm very proud of being Ryder Cup captain, and I said I'm very proud that the team and the whole team, not just the the players, the caddies, everybody around it, thought the week was awesome. Uh we didn't seem to leave any stone unturned. Uh, the only thing was the result of the US were just too good for us uh for a number of reasons, but that's that's golf. Uh thankfully we've come back strong. You know, again, I'm always very worried with the Ryder Cup that the US could get on a run again, and thankfully, you know, we come back great in Italy. Luke did a tremendous job, and uh it's amazing, you know, after whistling straights, like the pundits were basically saying that's it with the Ryder Cup, it's never going to be a match again, it's all over. And sure enough, it comes right back in Italy, and you know, Europe do the job, and yeah, it's it's just it's a great event, it really has delivered. Uh it's phenomenal, and and you know, hopefully it keeps from going from strength to strength.

Mike Gonzalez 16:31

Well, you go from 2021 uh as captain of the Ryder Cup, and uh next thing you know, you're turning 50, and off you go to the champions tour where you're playing now. And I guess I I just saw recently where you'd played 15 events this year, and I thought to myself, boy, that's not many for Podrik.

Padraig Harrington 16:48

No, I I I'm playing more events now than ever. I'm I'm playing over 30 events a year because I'm still trying to play uh you know European PGA tour events. It it's interesting, you know. I get kind of people think I put on Lent or tried to put on Lent for the Champions Tour, and not even close. I tried to put on Lent to stay competitive with the young guys on the young tour. Um and physically, you know, it'd be a huge achievement for me to win against the the young guys, you know, it'd be the oldest player in Europe to win, things like that. It'd be something that would go very high up on my CV. I I I used to think I it was catching lightning in a bottle to try and win on it. And and I've got to say, at the yeah, you'd be surprised halfway through this year. Now I was at at the Scottish Open. Now I've had a tough year this year, I had pneumonia, uh, I've had a neck injury. But at the Scottish Open, like again, I was getting that brutal feeling of playing on the cut line, shooting level power, but trying so hard, you know, literally absolutely grinding to be level power and way off the cut line. You know, maybe it was two over and two under was a cut line, and so so a long way off and really, really brutal. And I was I I I sat there on the Friday night thinking, why am I doing this? You know, I can be out in the champions tour, not looking over my shoulder and worrying about what everybody else is doing, feeling within myself uncomfortable and enjoying it. And uh, so I I was I was gonna give up. I was like, that's it, I'm I'm just gonna stick to this champion tour. And then I turn up at the open the next week, and like I was tented strokes gain T to green. I was going this and and it was easy, and I was going, okay, this I'm kind of back, and then I turn up like at Wentworth, I was a second strokes gain T to green. So again, I played well enough to be in to you know to be in contention, and and I I know I can win if I'm in contention, so yeah, I'm kind of stuck again back in that that category of I could win on the regular tour. Now the problem is when I go out on the regular tour, I try too hard. I I I can see myself, you know, it's a little mini choke. I've done it, I I remember the first US tour event I played this year. I remember, and I can see myself spending a little longer on the Putin Green, a little longer on this, checking this and doing that, which I wouldn't do in the Champions Tour. I I I trust that I'm good enough. So uh, you know, I I have to get out of that mindset, but physically, uh I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm good enough to do it. Uh you know, with the putting putting can be good. I I like as I said, I put it very well. I won two events in the Champions Tour this year by putting. It wasn't by Peter Green play, it was by good putting. So uh I've actually put it quite well this year for most of it. I've shown a bit of form in the long game. So I'm actually back right back in the same situation that I'm probably gonna try and play the same season as I played the last two, three years, half and half on the regular on the champions tour. Now that that obviously I could regret it in time because you know, if you want to have a great champions tour career, you've got to get those wins up, rack them up early, because every year you've got two or three new guys coming on. Uh so eventually I'm gonna be the old guy in the champions tour. But you know, I must admit I am I am loving my golf and I'm very excited by my golf. I I have an enthusiasm uh for my golf, but I do need to be careful that it doesn't turn into trying too hard person again.

Mike Gonzalez 20:29

Yeah, yeah. Well, uh you've posted a great record so far uh since turning 59 wins, I think, on the champions tour. You've had some some good finishes in a number of the majors, including your win uh over Sticker by one at the U.S. Senior Open at Stockholley, the old course, uh some tough playoff losses, but all in all, pretty, pretty good. Um before we let you go, uh we we want you to talk a little bit about what you've been doing. We would call it uh selfishly for the good of the game, with your Patty's golf tips, which I think was probably born back in COVID time, yes?

Padraig Harrington 21:05

Yeah, the the yeah, I love coaching. Absolutely love it. I love coaching.

Mike Gonzalez 21:09

And you have a gift for it, by the way. You have a gift for it.

Padraig Harrington 21:12

Uh well I I've always loved playing in the programs and watching people and wondering why they are who they are. It just fascinates me. You know, why is this person who's athletic not swinging the club very well? And why is this person doesn't look very good and yet is a is a single-digit, a low single-digit guy. I just love the whole idea of golf. And so I've been doing that for you know, on the golf course for 25 years. So in COVID, I decided I would do a lesson every day. And it this is the beauty of there, there are some good sides to social media. This is the beauty, you get direct access to people. So I started posting videos, and uh once COVID finished, we started posting longer form videos, um, you know. YouTube that's very popular. Last year, this year, I've done a series of how to get to single figures, and next year we decided my series is going to be how to coach yourself. Uh, you know, so it's great. I've got ideas, I've got loads of ideas, loads of and I love doing it. And and you know, uh the great thing about it is well, I don't take myself too seriously. So if you like my videos, watch them. If you don't like them, don't worry about it. You know, I'm not so it the beauty, I'm not stressed. If somebody came along to me and wanted to argue a point and say, I go, well, that's fine, you do it your way, and that's okay, and I'll do it my way. And it's you know, because it's all given out there for free. I'm not charging anybody for it, and uh it's been a great, great for me. I I've got to say, I did one or two, I've done one or two other things. Um I built a free-to-use pudding in a local park, and it's been a mega success. So it it's you know, it's it's it's like a Himalayas, so it's kind of crazy goals, but it's real grass. Yeah. So and it is it's free. You walk up, you get a putter, you get a ball, you go play, and it's been fantastic. It's been just that it's so popular. Um hopefully we're going to get involved in in in in in there's a power three course and redoing that power three course. Uh so you have another stepping stone. Because I I played that when I was a kid, so you can go put and green if you like that, you can go power three course. And I think this is the great the way forward for golf. You know, it's making it very, very accessible, but also quick and easy for people to have a go at, try. And once they do that, then they'll uh one great thing about golf, and this is interesting in golf, you know, golf is is assumed to be a really elitist sport. Now you need to be very rich in time. That's what you need to play golf. You need time, time okay, and that's why you oftentimes you see wealthier people play golf because they have more time. But in Ireland, it's uh taxi drivers, it's barmen, it's it's people who are on shift work play golf. Uh it's very accessible, and you need this aspiration. And I I actually quite like in America, you have a great aspirational system where you have lots of public golf courses, and then you have local courses, then you have a country club, and then you have some really exclusive golf courses up the top, and it's all aspirational. But the beauty is there's always golf available at all levels, and that's that that's what's got to be the most important thing for golf going forward for all of us is that fine, we can build the most exclusive, beautiful country clubs, but just make sure that we have enough public facilities that everybody can have a go, and if they really like it, they can spend their life chasing their dreams.

Mike Gonzalez 24:52

Yep, lovely. Well, I tell you, you you're certainly making your mark in the game, and and I think that will be your legacy. Uh, before we get to our closing questions, I just mentioned that uh Padrig has been a global ambassador for Special Olympics. Uh of course you've got your charitable foundation that does good work as well. You work as the RA's working for golf ambassador. And my prediction will be, and it may be hard to fathom at this point, but in future generations, there's going to be kids growing up that are going to know you more for pet golf tips than for anything else you've done.

Padraig Harrington 25:25

It's actually happening. It's it's the most common thing said to me now at a golf event. Uh the two the two common common things that happen to me. Now the people that come up to me and say, I gave them a golf ball. And these are adults. I gave them to them when they were kids. So you or somebody said, You gave a golf ball to my kid, he's coming out tomorrow with the golf ball, and the kid turns up, he's 30 years of age. He's no longer a kid. Uh that one happens a lot. Uh I get I watched your majors, happened a lot, but the one now common one is Paddy's golf tips. It's it's really getting out there. People are are enjoying it. I I thought I'd hit a wall and I haven't. I've got loads of new ideas. Uh loads of them. It's it's great. This is a great fabulous thing about golf. You know, we we there's just so much. There's because there's like ten different elements to playing golf, whether it's short game, long game, iron drivers, bunker shots, there's so much to still to be learnt and taught and talked about. It it's a it's a great, it's it's just not one-dimensional, it's it's got so much to it. I have plenty of ideas, I haven't run out yet.

Mike Gonzalez 26:36

Good. Well, we look forward to them. Uh so three final questions. Bruce, I always give my partner the T for the first question.

Bruce Devlin 26:43

So, Patrick, if you knew when you were 35 or 40 years old, I mean take that back to when you were twenty. Would would you have done anything different if you were smarter at twenty than like you were at forty?

Padraig Harrington 27:07

I certainly don't regret anything I I've done. As in I think everything I've done made me who I am. Uh yes, I would have done things differently. Uh luckily when I was 24 and turning pro, I had a brilliant innocence about how to play golf. Like I I probably was I definitely could have been the best player ever for doing his thing and not worrying about everybody else's thing and and and and you know just playing his own game and getting the job done. So that was a natural talent that could have not a natural talent, but something that that's who I was, that could have been knocked down on me by by experience. Experience mightn't have been a good thing for that. Uh but yeah, if I if I was gonna change, I I know what to change, and I still won't do it at 53 years of age. So uh me saying I would have do it at 20, I I just look I I I I just I'm quite an optimistic, enthusiastic person, yeah. But every time I go to the range, I practice to hit the best shot I can at that very moment, not to hit the most consistent shot.

Bruce Devlin 28:22

Yeah.

Padraig Harrington 28:22

When you're on the golf course, all you need is consistency, you need to know what to expect is coming. Whereas if I went to the range and I hit a beautiful seven-iron uh, you know, with a two-yard fade and it pitched exactly on the number, say 180 yards, I try and hit the next seven-iron a little higher, a little further, and uh, you know, 185 yards, and I try and hit a better shot. I just can't I just can't help myself from seeking perfection. And and you could say it has done me harm, but it also is what drives me and gets me out there. Right. It's what keeps me in the game at 53. I I I I I I couldn't get over, you know, every we just finish the season off and and everybody and I see the post now from even the the regular season. Great to have time off, looking forward to putting the clubs away for six, eight weeks. I'm finishing up the season and I'm like, oh great, I can go practice, go hit more shots. So like, yeah, I I it's but that's my personality, and I don't shy away from it. Yeah, yeah, I you know, I'm I'm I'm that's who I am. That's what made me, what made me and what makes me. I I do have to manage it, and and yes, Bruce, that's what I would change. I I I would hopefully manage it a little bit better. Uh prepare for Sunday, not for Thursday, uh, is what I always say. And and while I I was good at doing it for that period, I have good intentions, Bruce, right? Yeah, listen to me. I have good intentions to do it for the year 2025. So watch watch that space, 2025. If I do it right, I'm gonna beat those young guys.

Mike Gonzalez 30:06

Good luck. Good luck with that. All right, second question. Uh we give you one career mulligan, one shot to do over. Where would it be?

Padraig Harrington 30:21

Yeah, it's hard to know. The US Open back at the Olympic Club at a wedge into the last like 120 yards. I get up and down, I'm in the playoff, and I'm I'm number one wedge player on tour at that stage from inside that distance. Uh that could be it. Uh ATT at Muirfield to get into the playoff. I hit Driver in the bunker in 2002 for the open. That certainly could be there. Uh the 2009 PJ YE one hitting in the water on the eighth. It was a good shot too, I hit in the water. They they all they were all pretty there, but I'm sure there's one that probably hurt more. Uh, you know. I'm trying to think, is the one that hurt? I've been very lucky on golf. You know, I I I I I hurt like everybody else on a Sunday when I mess up. You know, I I I you know Sunday evening I can be like everybody else, uh, you know, when I mess up, I'm devastated and I'm rude old. The minute I get up Monday and hit a golf shot, there you go, it's like n everything is in the future. So I I have been, you know, those are shots I look at that made a difference, three majors there.

Mike Gonzalez 31:42

Uh yeah, that's pretty good assortment.

Padraig Harrington 31:47

Yeah, but thankfully I I still thinking if there's any others, so there's not too many to hold my intention from the past. I'm still always focused on the future.

Mike Gonzalez 31:56

Yeah, good, good.

Bruce Devlin 31:57

Bruce, final question. Okay, Patrick. How would you like to be remembered?

Padraig Harrington 32:21

You know, the etiquette of the game and that and that side of it. You know, the the the I suppose I think I'd prefer to be membered for being good for the game of golf than nearly being it's it's interesting because I got in the Hall of Fame this year. And I get in the Hall of Fame purely based. The only way you get in the Hall of Fame is based on your results. Yet I think I'd like to be remembered for all the other things that go along with the results. As in I've never thrown a club in my career, never broken a club in my career, uh, I've never tapped in a put one-handed in my career. Uh you know, just the little things, fixing pitch marks, actually fixing fixing pitch marks diligently. Uh, you know, leaving the golf course better than you got it, you know, all those sort of things. I I like to be remembered for being a very tough competitor. I really, really, really want to be a tough competitor. But but but in the mold of you know, really hard, I only say good shot to good shots. You know, that's very important to me. You know, there's no blasé. If I say good shot to you, it's a good shot. I think it's a good shot. If I don't say good shot, you might think it's a good shot, it's just an okay shot, who knows? But I you know, I want to be that really strong, fair competitor that plays with his golf clubs, puts it up to you, uh you know, hits the golf shots that that you know, the crazy shots, the recoveries, the exciting shots. Uh yeah. I suppose that with that in that the problem with all of golf, uh all of human nature. You you want to do everything and and and be you know kind of be liked or respected for what you do, but the I suppose none of it counts unless you do it in the first place. So the Hall of Fame is based on on results, and I just like the fact that uh I I've I suppose you know what I'd like to remember this guy who just genuinely loved the game. Just I was always, always fascinated with this game, and if I remember for that with the coaching and all those sort of things, that just remember for my enthusiasm for the game. There you go. Simple trick, a few words.

Bruce Devlin 34:39

And thank you so much for joining us, Padrigon, for the good of the game. Now look, we've had a great uh great couple of sessions with you and uh wish you all the best.

unknown 34:49

Yeah.

Padraig Harrington 34:51

I've enjoyed every minute of it. You've reminded me of some very nice things that you know it's so easy in the game to forget forget, you know, to be too busy to take a moment to enjoy what you've done. So thank you very much, guys. It's been a nice run down uh uh memory lane.

Mike Gonzalez 35:10

Thanks, Patrick. Appreciate you joining us.

Padraig Harrington 35:12

Thanks, guys.

Mike Gonzalez 35:14

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word.