Things you didn't know about Padraig Harrington

Things you didn't know about Padraig Harrington

Favourite course?
Royal Portrush in Europe and Augusta in the US

Favourite golf hole?
Too many to mention

How old were you when you first broke par?
Probably in the Leinster Boys when I was 15 years of age at Grange. Think I shot a one under par 68. It certainly wasn't Stackstown. I had some good scores at Royal Tara when I was 16. I think it was 66-67-69 and I played all 54 holes with the same ball! It was a find as well. A Titleist LT. I still have it at home in a little cup.

Who's your favourite golf course architect?
I perform very well on Jack Nicklaus courses. I just like the fact that I play well on them. Tom Fazio would be totally different. In fact, if I wanted to play a golf course just to improve my golf, I would pick a Fazio course.

What's the weirdest time of day you have ever practised?
I am not an early person, but I have practised late. I've regularly hit balls at two o'clock in the morning at home. I have an indoor place.

When was the last time you paid a green fee? Or bought a golf ball?
I've never paid a green fee. We got free golf when we played on GUI teams. And I never bought a golf ball - but I sold many. I always used to make dams in the streams. I went into St Columbas' College land and make a dam there. It would silt up and you'd have to drag a club through the silt and rake the balls out. Golf balls were pricey back in the mid-80s - IR£2 a ball. There was no such thing as cheap golf balls.

Who would be in your dream fourball?
My brothers and my dad. I'd love to play a fourball with my dad again.

What about a fourball with non-golfers?
With my brothers. Ha ha ha.

Who would you invite to a dream dinner party?
For dinner I'd go for the despots. Criminally mad historical figures like Hitler rather that the successfully sane. Or maybe historical figures like Julius Caesar, Napoleon or Cleopatra. Actually, Hugh Heffner and his housemates would be quite good too.

What's you all-time favourite movie?
There's too many to say, but probably Pulp Fiction.

What about your favourite actor?
Robert de Niro.

Are you into music? What CDs have you got in the car?
My musical taste changes a lot. But in the car I have Queen's Greatest Hits, I've got Rammstein (the German metal band), Seal and Maroon Five.

What's your favourite sporting event outside golf?
I like any sporting event that's important and guys are trying. I don't have a favourite. Whether it is a rugby or soccer international or an All-Ireland final, I like going to something where the players are sweating about losing. An event where there is a bit of fear and passion involved.

Which male athlete do you admire the most?
I like Peter Stringer, the Ireland scrum-half.

Female athlete?
Annika Sorenstam.

TV show?
The Simpsons. Nothing else comes close.

Is there one mulligan in life you'd like to take?
The most practical mulligan I could take would be the tee shot on the 18th in the Open at Muirfield in 2002. And I would hit the driver again. I could say the second shot on the 16th at Winged Foot in the US Open this year, but I still would have had 17 and 18 to play.

Or the second shot to the 18th in the last 16 of the British Amateur at Carnoustie, where I hit it out of bounds against the guy who went on to win, Stephen Dundas. It was a six iron just left of the green. OB.

What's your favourite club in the bag?
My lob wedge. Definitely at the moment.

What's the oldest club in your bag?
My five-wood. It's four years old.

What's the best shot of your career?
My second to the 16th in the Friday fourballs at The K Club this year. It was me and Monty against Tiger and Furyk. We were two down and I hit it a five wood about 250 yards into the wind, into the middle of the green. The wind was a little off the left and I hit a draw off the right, over the water. So it was all duck or no dinner. It was a shot that made a difference between winning and losing the hole, which rarely happens. It was either one down with two to play or losing 3 and 2. History will say it isn't my best shot because we didn't win the match. As regards a hero shot, I suppose the 66 foot putt I holed on the 18th at Westchester to win the Barclays Classic.

What's your most embarrassing golf moment?
I tend not to think that golf is embarrassing. At the end of the day, no matter what I do on the golf course, I do not get embarrassed about it. I can get disappointed, I can wish I did something different, but I don't get embarrassed. If you got embarrassed on the golf course, you wouldn't play the game. You just couldn't compete because at the end of the day you have to accept the pitfalls.

Who was your first girlfriend?
Caroline.

How did you propose?
On bended knee, of course. But it wasn't on a golf course. Now THAT would have been embarrassing.

Are you a bad loser?
No. I see losing as part of sport. If I was a bad loser I would have given up the game a long time ago. I have always tried to be gracious in winning and losing. I try so hard in everything I do that I wouldn't take it badly. At least I don't think I do.

Put it this way, I am not going to go out tomorrow and buy a wheelchair so I can beat a guy at table tennis.

Pardon?
A friend of mine is a good table tennis player and he plays a paraplegic guy who's obviously in a wheelchair. They are playing the match and the able bodied guy hits a serve that the wheelchair guy couldn't reach. So the guy in the wheelchair tells him that under the rules, he can't hit that kind of serve at him.

He says okay and they replay the point. But then on match point, the guy in the wheelchair hits the same serve and the other guy can't reach it. He says,"you can't do that." But he's told that it only works one way. He stormed off in a huff, trying to figure out how he was going to beat this guy. So he decides he's going to get a wheelchair himself for the re-match. It has yet to take place.

Who's your best friend?
Ronan Flood, my caddie.

What's the best thing that's happened to you in the last 12 months?
I knocked it outside Foxie (Noel Fox) consistently for a whole round of golf at The K Club. That was pretty good. Ha ha ha.

When were you the most scared in your life?
The first tee in the Walker Cup in 1991. I was scared. So nervous. More than in any Ryder Cup. I was playing with McGinley against Allen Doyle and Jay Sigel. We lost.

If there were 25 hours in a day, what would you do with the extra one?
Practice.

What was your nickname in school?
Pudge. And Harrio. All the Harringtons were called Harrio.

What are you the most hopeless at?
Darts. And cooking. Well, I just never cook so I don't know if I'm hopeless at it.