Padraig Harrington was clearly not happy at all ahead of the Senior PGA Championship at Congressional this week.
Harrington played last week in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, and missed the cut after rounds of 73 and 71.
Despite the fact that the Irishman is 53 now, he’s still more than competitive on the main tour due to his length off the tee.
And when he plays senior events, he’s always one of the favourites to win.
The modern game is all about distance off the tee, so it’s no surprise that Harrington is a huge fan of Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau.
The three-time major champion uses his distance to great effect on the PGA Tour Champions, and he will be hoping to do so again at Congressional this week.
Frustrated Padraig Harrington calls for change to be made by the USGA
The course is a lot shorter this week than it was at Quail Hollow – obviously.
Most of the players competing at the Senior PGA Championship up in Maryland this week will be delighted that the USGA have decided to move some of the tee-boxes up.
Not Harrington though.
The Irishman addressed the media on Tuesday, and urged the USGA to make changes, rather than ‘pander to the shortest hitters’.
He said, “Last week’s golf course, it was meant to be long, but it didn’t play long. They just don’t. When you get into a tournament, when tee boxes get moved up five, eight yards, like last week the 9th was a beast in practice. It was close to a drive and a wood in practice, but in the tournament it was like 7-iron, and late rounds in the week guys were hitting 9-iron. Golf courses shorten up when you get a little bit pumped up.
“Coming here, yeah, it’s shorter, so instead of hitting one or two wedges, you’re probably hitting six wedges, seven wedges, something like that, instead of hitting 6-irons you’re hitting 8-iron, 9-iron. So yeah, it definitely plays shorter. Outside of that, the greens are a little bit slower. Well, they were very tough greens last week, so yeah, a lot depends with the setup. The rough is heavier here than last week. Substantially heavier here than last week actually. That’s interesting. That could play into the week. If the fairways stayed firm like they were at the moment or firm-ish, sometimes it’s hard — with slopes, it’s running off. So that could be difficult.
“But yeah, you transition — every shot is the same, to be honest. You pick a club and you try and stay focused and not second-guess yourself. Yeah, it’s probably two full clubs shorter every hole than last week, but that’s the difference.
“But you can’t pander to the lowest — you can’t go to the short hitters. That’s what happens. Usually the shortest hitters are the ones who shout the loudest. Some of those tee boxes are up three tee boxes out there, which normally we play pretty close to — it’s a big golf course. I’m going to fight in my corner, put it like that, and the short hitters will fight their corner. But it’s certainly — length isn’t — there’s a lot of 3-woods off the tees out there. There’s a number of places you’re hitting in between things — you’re hitting over bunkers.
“Yeah, at the end of the day, I’m going to fight my corner. We don’t need to be as far forward, no.“
Dominant Harrington needs more majors
The Irishman won three majors on the regular tour.
However, he hasn’t won as many on the senior tour as many predicted.
Harrington has nine PGA Tour Champions wins to his name, including only one major – the US Senior Open in 2022.
He’ll be hoping that all changes this week at Congressional.
However, Harrington’s advantage off the tee may well have been taken away by the USGA, it seems.
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