Pádraig Harrington: the 40-something winner of 2013
Never fear Pádraig Harrington, the 33 are here.
33 is the number of golf players, and many amongst them greatest of the sport, who have won majors at the age of 40 or even older.
The list includes names like Jack Nicklaus, who won his major aged 40, Ben Hogan (40), Old Tom Morris in 1861 (40), Vijay Singh (41), Mark O’Meara (41), Gary Player (42), Lee Trevino (44), Jack Nicklaus again (46), and Old Tom Morris again (46).
Julius Boros, at 48, playing at the Professional Golf Association Championship in Pecan Valley, is considered amongst the oldest players to have won a major title.
Then there is South African Ernie Els, the Big Easy (he is called that because of his highly social game play and long easy swing).
Englishman Lee Westwood, pushing past 40 himself, often finds in Ernie Els the consolation he needs. If Ernie Els can win a major title well after he was 40, Lee Westwood too, so he tells himself.
So, it is only logical to follow that train of thought to the situation Pádraig Harrington finds himself in. He is pushing past 40 and has yet to prove he has the mettle to bag a major.
Will 2013 be his year? Maybe the past will tell, for hindsight is usually a foresight reliable and at times the only one at hand to professional golfers who find themselves in situations Pádraig Harrington is in.
So how has his year been?
The Irishman plays both on the European Tour and the Professional Golf Association Tour. To his credit, he has won three majors in the past. In 2007, Pádraig Harrington won The Open Championship.
He won The Open Championship the following year in 2008 again, which was also the year he clinched the top prize and purse in Professional Golf Association Championship.
What was exciting about the feat (winning two major Championships within the same stretch of three hundred and sixty five days) was the only other person to accomplish that was Mark O’Meara.
Well, at least that is a start. At least his name has something to do with the great Mark O’Meara.
But will Pádraig Harrington win a major title this year? His years since his title wins have been barren. He has been bereft of any major title of any sort anywhere in any tournament or Tour of any kind or sort. This could be the year.
To golfers, winning a major in the 40s has a distinct charm of its own because you are in that phase of your game where another ten years down and you will be playing for the senior tours. The 40s are akin to that last gasp of a slowly waning game.
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