To say that Padraig Harrington's victory in the British Open was a work in progress might be an understatement.
Vijay Singh has long held the reputation as the hardest working man in golf, but Harrington could match him bucket for bucket, hour for hour. The difference was that Singh was refining, while Harrington seemed to be constantly rebuilding.
The turning point came 18 months ago.
"I started to believe more and more in myself," Harrington said last week in Bermuda, where he stayed on a chipping green for an hour after his six-hour pro-am round. "This season and last season, I was more comfortable. I would say in the last 18 months, for the first time, I turned up for a tournament and played those tournaments as if there were no tournaments the following week."
He said that was true even at majors, which seems odd for someone to be thinking about anything but the next shot.
But he pointed to two majors that showed the difference in his game.
One was the U.S. Open in 1998 at The Olympic Club, where he tied for 32nd. The other was the 2006 Masters, where he tied for 27th.
"At Olympic Club, I walked away from that thinking I've got to change," Harrington said. "I did everything I could. I got up-and-down, holed every putt. I felt I could do no better. I felt totally inadequate."
He was never in contention and broke par only one round at Augusta National in 2006, but he knew he was on the right track.
"There wasn't a shot that was presented where I thought somebody else had a big advantage," he said. "I said to Bob Rotella afterward, 'I'm good enough to win one of these.' And since then, I've been a lot more comfortable with my game. I feel like I can hit the shot. I'm not saying I could do it at will, but I could do it."
And he did.
