Familiarity breeds conquest, the now-rested British Open champ Padraig Harrington says.
Harrington is a Westchester Country Club fan, or at least has been, when the Barclays Classic was much earlier on the PGA tour. He won it in 2005, tied for second the year before, and hopes it isn’t much different this August than in those Junes.
“I go to some golf courses where I haven’t done well, and you just work so hard,” Harrington said yesterday. “You really, really grind it out for the week and get such an average performance, finish a dozen shots behind the leader and you’re tearing your hair out.
“And you turn up at a course you like, win by five shots and you’re looking around, going, ‘Why did everybody find this plays hard?’ “
This time, the month is different and so is the format. It’s still a best-72 wins, but it’s the first of four consecutive legs of the FedEx Cup, a cut-from-the-bottom playoff that starts with Harrington 21st of 144 (138 will play here) and with 94,600 points. The absent Tiger Woods is top-seeded with 100,000 points. The winner here gains 9,000 points, and the field gets cut to 120 at TPC Boston next week. There is a suggestion Woods, who has never won here, doesn’t care for the old, traditional track in Harrison. Harrington is a booster.
“Most players like this course. If you can’t play golf around here, you don’t really like golf,” said Harrington, who hopes to make hay here while Tiger’s away. “Golfers repeat themselves so much. Of course, you’re not allowed to gamble [in America] over here, but if you were following the form, golfers play well at certain courses. It’s horses for courses. They play well at certain courses at certain times of the year all the time.
“I played well at the Barclays Classic in June. I don’t know if I’ll play well at the Barclays in August because now it’s become a slightly different event. We could talk about biorhythms and things, who knows why? But it’s certainly a factor for golfers.”
The Barclays is evidence. Vijay Singh, the defending champ, has won it three times, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia twice each. They’ll have to deal with this tournament leaving Westchester for Liberty National in New Jersey in 2009, at least temporarily.
“I just hope they come up with as good a golf course,” Harrington said. “I heard it’s spectacular, so I’ll be looking forward to it, and seeing what it’s like.”
Harrington said yesterday that he hadn’t yet swung at a golf ball since the PGA.
“I’ve had eight days off, the longest break I’ve ever had in-season, and probably the longest break I’ve ever taken without hitting a golf ball,” he said. “I definitely needed a rest after the PGA and I’m hoping the swing is the same and I can just stay sharper mentally.”
Much of that was the hoopla and celebration of winning at Carnoustie last month, the Dubliner’s first major.
“Going home the following week, it was manic,” Harrington said. “There was so much happening, so much to do. It was all go.”
He’s hoping he’ll be more rested than rusty this week.
