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19th July 2024 Royal Troon Golf Club, Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland The Open Championship Round 2 Tiger Woods walks from the 12th tee PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK ActionPlus12669938 StevenxFlynn
Imago
19th July 2024 Royal Troon Golf Club, Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland The Open Championship Round 2 Tiger Woods walks from the 12th tee PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK ActionPlus12669938 StevenxFlynn
Padraig Harrington stood on the Qatar Masters range, hands planted on his hips, as name after name rolled past. Jordan Spieth. Seve Ballesteros. Tiger Woods. The three-time major champion didn’t flinch. The DP World Tour had issued a simple challenge: stay silent until you hear someone with a better short game. Ten names later, Harrington hadn’t uttered a word. When the off-camera voice finally asked if he considered himself the best, the Irishman broke his silence with something unexpected: data.
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“All I know is when they did the stats in the States, strokes gained, they used my ten worst years, and at that stage I was third,” Harrington explained. “And only because I’m not a very good chipper from the fairway. If we go to number one out of the rough, and that was the worst of my career.”
“The pros that putt for pars don’t last,” Harrington noted. “But I was the ultimate pro that’s up and down.”
The numbers back the bravado. During his 2007–2008 peak, Harrington’s scrambling percentage hovered between 65 and 68 percent, consistently placing him among the Tour’s top five. His career PGA Tour scrambling average sits around 62 percent—elite territory for any era. Even now, past 50 and competing on the Champions Tour, his short-game metrics remain formidable.
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But here’s the thing about Harrington’s claim: it carries a built-in asterisk he applied himself.
“Phil Mickelson can probably hit the best of the best shots,” he acknowledged in the reel. “Tiger Woods, as good as you could, as gritty as you could. You can argue against Tiger? He didn’t seem to leave anything out there.”
The distinction matters. Harrington wasn’t crowning himself golf’s greatest player. He was staking a narrow claim—chipping, specifically, and the art of getting up and down.
This wasn’t his first public nod to Woods’ competitive edge. Harrington once observed that Tiger’s swing “looks more capable than maybe the last couple of years” and added a warning that still echoes through Augusta corridors: “The one thing with Tiger is nobody wants to see him coming down the stretch with nine holes to go.” Respect, not rivalry.
The reel’s timing adds another layer. This week marks Harrington’s 500th career start on the DP World Tour—a milestone that explains why the tour’s social media team chose him for the viral treatment.
What Padraig Harrington means by “up and down” and why the stats matter
For the uninitiated: “up and down” means reaching the green from off it, usually via chip or pitch, and sinking the subsequent putt in one stroke. Scrambling, in statistical terms. The skill that separates pros who survive bad ball-striking days from those who don’t.
Modern tours have learned that humanising players through humour builds engagement without manufacturing controversy. The clip sparked conversation, not debate. Fans reacted to the playful confidence, shared the video, and moved on without anyone genuinely arguing Harrington had disrespected Woods or Ballesteros.
The line between swagger and disrespect is thin. Harrington walked it with the precision of a man who’s spent three decades reading greens. He backed his claim with verifiable stats, praised his contemporaries explicitly, and limited his boast to the narrowest possible category.
Confidence with receipts. The veteran’s playbook.
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