SAN ANTONIO — With a 68 in the opening round of the Valero Texas Open on Thursday, Padraig Harrington found himself tied with Matt Kuchar for the lead at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course after the first wave of players were through. This marks his third straight week in action, after a pair of consecutive starts on the PGA Tour Champions.
So why is Harrington grinding? Why is he bouncing from one event — and from one tour — to the next?
The three-time major champion has an interesting answer — he believes that competing against fellow 50-somethings is pushing him, and giving him more confidence against younger fields.
A major difference between the tours is the 72-hole PGA Tour events cut the field in half after two days, unlike the no-cut, 54-hole Champions events.
“I love playing the Champions Tour and it’s really helped my game to no end,” Harrington said. “I’m out there thinking, oh, I think I’m playing better. So I come, I play three European Tour events this year, this is my third PGA Tour event and I’m kind of going, well, I think I’m better, let’s go and see if I really am better out there with the kids.”
And it’s not like his results have fallen off with his extended play.
Harrington tied for seventh in the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California, then added a T-5 at last week’s Galleri Classic just outside Palm Springs. And he’s had respectable finishes on the DP World Tour as well.
“It’s nice to show some form,” he said. “I had a reasonable chance in the first one in the DP World at the start of the year to win. Yeah, it’s nice to come out shooting a good score today. It was a bit scrappy to get there, but to be leading at any stage is not a bad thing on the Tour.”
Harrington is aware there will be ramifications, of course. His body doesn’t bounce back as quickly as it used to and with wonky weather wreaking havoc on tee times, it’s likely he’ll get a late start on Friday and will have a number of holes to make up on Saturday.
He insists he’s up for the challenge.
“I will spend a good few hours in the physio truck,” he admitted. “The only thing I’m worried about is I’m probably going to have to play 26, 27 holes on Saturday. After walking 18 holes, I can’t do much. My leg, it’s my leg actually, it seizes up quite a bit afterwards. Yeah, look, I’ll figure it out, don’t worry. All these things, you’d always find a way of working through it.
“While it would be something I would be mindful of, I don’t think it will hold me back.”
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