subject: Harrington Is Confident In Masters [print this page] Harrington Is Confident In Masters Harrington Is Confident In Masters
Padraig Harington believes he is longing to the Masters feeling better about his game than at any time. The major champion feels it is only a matter of time before he loses his status as the forgotten man of British and Irish golf - and it could be as early as this weekend at the Houston Open.
Asked about his 'forgotten' status, he said: 'It's never a bad thing when the attention is on other players but, in any case, I truly believe I am going to play the best golf of my life going forward with taylormade r9 irons. 'I've achieved a lot of closure in recent months regarding the swing changes I was working on, and I am at peace with that side of things. The result is that I am a lot happier about where my game is at than any time over the last 20 years.'
Harrington feels a lot of pride over the key role he has played in being the catalyst that has ushered in this golden era of European golf, with players from the continent winning the last two majors and putting up at least 10 prime contenders for next week's showpiece.
'I give a lot of credit to Michael Campbell and his US Open win in 2005 for what I achieved, and I think, if you ask the likes of Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer, they will say they looked at my game, one they were very familiar with, and thought to themselves: "If he can do it, so can I".'
Harrington, now down to 39th in the world, has been passed by eight players from Britain and Ireland in the rankings after an indifferent 18 months.
Yesterday was more like it, during a rollercoaster round in which he played his front nine in just 32 strokes by TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 Fairway Wood, dropped three shots in the middle, then rallied strongly with a drive and five iron to the par-five eighth to set up an eagle three. 'I just fell asleep in the middle and got out of my routine but I'm not far off the lead so, fortunately, no damage was done,' he said.
Lee Westwood was playing the front nine in 39 before coming home to finish on four under par and four shots off the lead.
'I feel much better now than I did after nine holes, that is for sure, but there's one or two things I need to work on this afternoon,' he said.
Among Westwood's gallery was former US President George Bush, who lives in Houston, although playing partner Phil Mickelson was probably the greater attraction and Bush As Golf Honorary Chairman. Masters champion Mickelson shot 70 to be level with Westwood.
