Padraig Harrington has won three major championships in his career. He attributed that recently to a mindset that he was always going to win multiples.
“I was always impressed by Phil Mickelson," Harrington told PGATour.com. "When he was struggling to win majors, when anybody asked him at a press conference -- this is early 2000s; I’ve been listening to this -- he says, ‘I’m going to win majors.’ I copied him on that. In my head, if somebody asked, ‘Are you the best guy not to have won a major?’, I’d say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to win majors.’ I made sure it was never one. Obviously, three was in my head somewhere.”
I attribute it to the fact that Tiger Woods was injured and Rory McIlroy hadn't arrived on the scene yet. Regardless, Harrington also told PGATour.com he plays better when he has a little juice flowing through his veins. I found this pretty intriguing.
“A lot of players will say the same thing -- once you’ve peaked in your career, maybe got to the goals you wanted, everything afterwards, well, it’s very hard to get up and get going for it," Harrington told PGATour.com. "Excited. Butterflies in the stomach. Nervous. The adrenaline. We all know how many guys have won one major and never been the same afterwards. It’s because they’ve achieved their goal in life. … You get something in your head, you’d be amazed how wherever you think you belong, you tend to end up."
Unfortunately for the Honda Classic's defending champion, the place he ended up on Thursday during the first round of 2016 was in a tree.
Binoculars. Rarely a good sign.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 25, 2016
Harrington searches for his ball. pic.twitter.com/olYXqUzrrf
