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Even a forgotten suitcase can't discourage a stress-free Harrington
Author: By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY
7/30/2008
Email: http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/reporter.aspx?id=282
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2008-07-29-wgc-harrington_N.htm
AKRON, Ohio — Padraig Harrington had to go shopping for clothes Monday night, but the spree wasn't in celebration of his victory in the British Open two weeks ago.
He forgot his suitcase, leaving it in his bedroom at his home in Dublin.
"We checked 15 bags," Harrington said, "but mine wasn't one that came off the carousel."
Representatives of his management company, IMG, have been scrambling for the past two days to get his suitcase — filled with logo shirts from sponsors — to Firestone Country Club before Thursday's start of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
The oversight might be a good sign for Harrington as he goes into the final two months of his PGA Tour schedule, highlighted by the PGA Championship next week near Detroit.
He has concluded after his second consecutive victory in the British Open that the key to his success is not to allow himself to get too stressed over golf. Three days before the start of the Open, he met for two hours with sports psychologist Bob Rotella.
Harrington had played well in 2008 on the PGA and European tours, but he had not won.
"I knew it had something to do with my attitude," he said. "I was not letting it happen. I was trying too hard. I was not as free to enjoy golf as much as I should. I was trying to force results."
After the attitude adjustment, Harrington went on to win the British Open in trying, windy, cold conditions at Royal Birkdale in England. He has not forgotten the lesson in competition he learned at the British Open.
"They say winning is a habit," he said. "That's the habit I want to get. I'm the only guy who can win the British Open three years in a row."
Last year, after winning the British Open in a playoff with Sergio Garcia, Harrington did not finish in the top 10 in any of the last five events he played on the PGA Tour.
He believes his performance will be better this year, although he suspects it will take two playoff wins to win the FedExCup. He signed an agreement to represent White Oak, a community in Tryon, N.C., where he will live while he's playing the PGA Tour. After the PGA Championship, instead of going back to Ireland and returning in one week for the start of the FedExCup playoffs, he'll go to White Oak.
"It will be a good base for me," he said. "It's a nice quiet family place. It's not too cold in the winter, and not too hot in the summer."
And, if he forgets his suitcase, it will be a whole lot easier to ship it to him from North Carolina.
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