Humbled Harrington to be inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024
Pádraig Harrington after his win in the US Senior Open in 2022. Picture: USGA
Pádraig Harrington was "humbled" to learn he will join Joe Carr and Christy O'Connor Snr alongside the immortals of the game in the World Golf Hall of Fame next year.
It’s a deserved recognition for a wonderful career but the determined spirt that got him this far still burns bright and whether he wins another Major or decides to quench his competitive fire on the Champions Tour, he insists he has no plans to retire just yet.
The three-time Major winner (51) will be inducted along with the late Johnny Farrell, Beverly Hanson, Tom Weiskopf and the 13 LPGA Founders as part of the Class of 2024 ahead of the 124th US Open Championship at Pinehurst on 10 June next year.
"Yeah, it's very exciting,” Harrington said from his Dublin home I n a teleconference yesterday. “It's very humbling to be honest. I wasn't quite sure -- you're just not quite sure how you're going to feel. Very humbled to be included with the people who have gone before me, a lot of the people in the Hall of Fame I would have put up on a pedestal, and now I'm there included with them, that takes a little bit to get my head around.
“I have to understand that, believe that, be part of that. Some of them I would have competed against, and it took a while to get used to that on the golf course. But now that I'm in the Hall of Fame, there's many I would have put up on a pedestal that I never competed against. If we're looking at Trevino or Snead or Hogan, Nicklaus, all these people, like now I'm in the Hall of Fame with these. It's phenomenal.”
He’s spoken first to Golf Channel and said: "There's a certain amount of, not just joy, but satisfaction and validation in the announcement for me. I'm at the stage of my career now, 50 years of age and looking back at what you did. The world of golf is moving on very quickly. So when you do get included in the Hall of Fame, it certainly brings that sense of 'I did it'. “
“Deep down, yeah, it makes me feel like I could retire, but I don’t intend to retire if that’s the answer you want”
He follows in the footsteps of the first inductees in 1974 —Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Harry Vardon.
But he was also pinching himself to join fellow Irishmen Carr and O'Connor Snr on the Mount Olympus of golf.
"This is a deep-down satisfaction, and I'm very proud to be included with the players before me,” he said. “Seeing your name beside the names that I've looked up to as a boy and young golfer, it's very nice."
On Carr and O'Connor, he said: "They are the greats of Irish golf, and I suppose I haven't really thought about this, but as a kid, I looked up to them so much, I put them so much up there on a pedestal, in some ways now I'm there, as well.
“I would like to think I got in based on my love of the game and my respect for the game, the etiquette of the game, the rules of the game”
"They were so far away from me in many ways that I never aspired to be like them, and it really has happened step by step that I've got to where I have in golf."
Speaking to Golf Channel shortly after the announcement, he expressed the hope that he was inducted not just for his results but for the way he played the game.
"I assume I got in based on my wins,” he said. “I would like to think I got in based on my love of the game and my respect for the game, the etiquette of the game, the rules of the game. Just my love of everything that there is about golf.
“There are lots of people out there that have that and won't get into the Hall of Fame based on how they see the game. So it is based on the wins, but I would like to think it's more somewhat to do with the respect I have for the game."
He sees the honour as the kind of summary of his entire career - a reward for a body of work.
"I think this gathers them together," he said of the World Golf Hall of Fame framing his career achievements. "I've had a very nice passage of time in golf. A lot of the things I achieved, I achieved in a sequence that sort of grew on top of each other and this nicely collates it all and pulls it all together.
"As for me, it's just that I get to stand beside the greats of the game. These are people, as I said, that I would have put up on a pedestal, and I played against them. I can think of Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen. These are guys I competed against in Europe that are in the Hall of Fame. Going further back and looking at the true greats back in the day — your Hogans, your Sneads and people like, they're intangible, as in I never competed against them. But the modern guys that I competed against, to be included with them, yeah, that's very special."
Undoubtedly, his Major wins in 2007 and 2008 played a crucial role in his induction, but he didn't see them as a surprise per se.
"I had very natural progression," he said. "Even sitting here watching Sawgrass this week, I was runner-up in 2002 and 2003. So the Majors didn't come out of the blue. They were just a natural succession of good performances. And as I said, I was the hottest player in the game who hadn't won a major at that stage. So it was natural. And I have this theory that everybody gets two seasons or 18 months of play, where they just peak. You could look at Tiger Woods' 99-2000. You'll find it very hard to find an outlier where you don't have that two years where things come easier. I would say, hey, look, I played better in 2009-2010. But the results weren't better. So that was kind of spectacular.
"It's very hard to find somebody who didn't have a run or a peak, whether they made a Ryder Cup team or they won a couple of times on tour. It's different peaks for everybody. But you'll find that there was an 18 months and 2007/2008 was mine in terms of results. But it was coming. I was Player of the Year here in Europe in 2006, so these things were just following a natural progression.
"I'm playing in the Champions Tour obviously a lot now. And it's great for reminding you of the great things you did, the great shots you hit. Every time you win a tournament or even hit a good shot on the Champions Tour, it's a reminder of what you did back in the day.
Pádraig Harrington at Stackstown Golf Club
"Now the World Golf Hall of Fame is another reminder. It puts it together and says, you know what, you did well."
Biggest achievements
As for his proudest achievement in the game, he said: "That's a big question. I would never have considered I could have made the World Golf Hall of Fame when I started out as a pro golfer. It was just not on my radar. I was just trying to survive. But being Ryder Cup captain was right up there. Tournament-wise, winning the Irish Open, winning the three majors, winning the World Cup of Golf. I'm sorry that's not around anymore. That was a big deal with Paul McGinley back in' 97. There were a lot of good moments for me. Winning the Walker Cup in '95. Golf has been so good to me.
“I get up every day, and the joy of trying to find the secret is what keeps me going. There’s no doubt about it. But that’s completely separate from the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is 100 per cent satisfaction and validation”
"As I said, I've had a lovely progression. I'm still out there trying to play, but things like this give you that moment to reflect and sit back. And in some ways, I never want to be the guy that's trying and keeping going too long. But this sort of says, I can stand there now and puff my chest out and say, I did it."
Few Hall of Fame players are major contenders when they are inducted, but while Harrington knows he could very well win a fourth, his priority is to enjoy his golf and see where it takes him.
"I get up every day, and the joy of trying to find the secret is what keeps me going," he said. "There's no doubt about it. But that's completely separate from the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is 100 per cent satisfaction and validation.
"I'm on the Champions Tour, and whether I hit a good shot or win a tournament, it's all about remembering the good days, the things you've done in the past, and being in the Hall of Fame is very much about collating and pulling it all together and saying, 'You know what, this lad did well.'
"There's a great sense of satisfaction to that. Deep down, yeah, it makes me feel like I could retire, but I don't intend to retire if that's the answer you want."
He added: "You know, yes, a betting man would say that my best years are behind me, but I don't get up in the morning thinking that. I think I push on. I love the game of golf. There's no doubt you could say I was burnt out five or six years ago, but I kind of stepped back and looked at it and said, 'You know what, I really, really enjoy playing golf.' If I wasn't playing professionally, I'd be playing socially and casually.
"So yeah, I'm going to keep at it and keep playing and keep trying to be competitive wherever that may be. Yeah, I feel good about my game. I enjoy it. I think I know more about my game than ever.
"But yeah, today is more about remembering what I've done, and in some ways, accepting what I've done, and not always be -- being in the Hall of Fame says you've done well, you did it. I want to make sure that I enjoy that moment. That I do walk around with my chest out and say, Hey, look, I've done it, and I'll always be the competitive player out there with your head down trying to battle away. I can't keep up that pace that I would have had 10 years ago anyway, and I certainly don't want to be that player I've seen hanging on too long. I enjoy my golf. I go out there and play. I'm going to try and play wherever I think I can win. I feel like things are getting better, but I ain't going to beat myself up trying to be a competitive player. If it happens, it happens."
As for that sense of pride in doing things the right way, as taught at home by his mother Breda and by his late father Paddy when he was learning the game at Stackstown and taking his first steps in sport generally, he said: "Yeah, absolutely. It has to be how we were brought up and what was important in the house, in my household and in the golf club. Yeah, it has to be all part of it, for sure.
"You know, that's my personality. You don't get voted into the Hall of Fame based on how you play the game and your etiquette. It is based on your results. But I'm happy that I feel like I've done it the right way over the years.
"There's lots of things that I do on the golf course that I'm proud of, and it's nice to be in the Hall of Fame, but as I said, fixing your pitch marks properly isn't what gets you into the Hall of Fame, but there is a sense of satisfaction in doing a good job."
As for reaching the Hall of Fame, while it was never something that crossed his radar until he started ticking the boxes required for entry, he never felt greatness was going to be denied him simply because no Irish golfer had won a Major since Fred Daly in 1947.
"In some ways, you could say I played with blinkers," he said. "I didn't overthink it. I didn't think too much about what other people hadn't done. I just purely, and I think Irish have a good outlook like that, that we get on and do it rather than thinking about why we can't do it or why we're not allowed to do it.
"That's definitely it, why we're not allowed to do it; that's definitely not in the Irish language. If somebody says we're not allowed to do it, we're more likely to go do and do it.
"I think Irish people when it comes to what we've done and our influence on the world, it's far greater than the size of our country for sure.
"As a golfer, as a person, I don't know, maybe it was just the way I was brought up in my family, but I never thought there was anything that could stop me or hold me back.
"That doesn't mean I thought I could do it. I just didn't question that -- there was no reason why I couldn't do it. There was no rule to say I couldn't do it. I certainly didn't overthink it in that sense just because nobody had won majors. I didn't think that was any reason why I couldn't win them. We're pretty good that way, I think, in Ireland, that we certainly punch above our weight."
