PARAMUS, New Jersey (AP) -Kenny Egan, a light heavyweight boxer from Ireland who advanced to the medal round at the Olympics on Tuesday, was trying to figure out how to peak for the biggest events. He went to the right guy for help.
Padraig Harrington has won only three times in the past 13 months, all of them major championships.
"He came to my house and basically was talking about how to peak, how to go to a big-time event and produce your best performance," Harrington said on Tuesday at The Barclays. "He was obviously a very talented competitor himself and knew what to do, but was feeling that he was slightly underachieving at the big events."
Harrington said he mostly told Egan to concentrate on his own performance. He also gave him a few sports psychology books to read, similar to what he did when he was beginning his golf career.
"The only way to learn experience without actually going through it yourself is learn from somebody else," Harrington said. "Kenny was not afraid to ask a couple of people to make the contact with me. And I love to talk, so I was more than obliging."
Harrington, however, said he won't take any credit for Egan no matter what happens in his next fight against Tony Jeffries of Britain, with the winner advancing to the gold medal round.
The three-time major champion said he also spoke to the Dublin football team a few years ago.
"The following day, they went out and lost to Carlow, which is one of the favorite teams losing to one of the lower-down teams, so it was a bit of an upset," Harrington said. "I wouldn't say I have a 100 percent record in these things. But it is great to see Kenny doing so well."
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RYDER CUP RACE: The race for the Ryder Cup team is complex in Europe, which has two weeks remaining for five players to earn a spot from the world points list, then five more from a money list.
Playing well should take care of everything, but there are a lot of moving parts.
Ian Poulter has elected to play in The Barclays on the U.S. PGA Tour, where he likely would need to finish third to move into the top five on the world points list. If he succeeds, that might knock Justin Rose down one spot to No. 4 on the money list, with four players in close range behind Rose.
Carl Pettersson, meanwhile, remains a long shot even after winning the Wyndham Championship.
