MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2022

Padraig Harrington

Quick Quotes

Q. Just talk us through today's round, finishing as you did.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Obviously, I was in a nice place all day. Struggled a little bit later on. Obviously, should have scored over -- overall I have you had have finished better than 2-over. A 70 would have been a reasonable return for the way I played. It was disappointing to three-putt 16 and bogey 17. That was disappointing, which besides the score, the rest of it was good in terms of I felt very comfortable. Probably more comfortable than a lot of times in the first round of a major, so that was nice.

Q. Just a little bit about the wind and the course after the rain that we've had in the two days leading up to the event.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, look, the course is very nice as always with Augusta. You hit good shots, and you think, oh, that's pretty easy, and you hit a bad shot and get out of position, and you are going, oh, my God, how could they put the pin there? It's amazing how you play really determines -- if you are in position, it's nice. Especially with today with a little bit of give in the greens. It really is. You can feel like you can fire at the pins, make birdies from anywhere, and then you get yourself out of position, and you go, well, this is difficult.

Personally I would like the test that is there right now all the time. A little bit of wind, but also a little bit of give in the greens. When it gets very firm and fast like Monday afternoon, I think that can be harder because sometimes you punish the good shots, whereas in these conditions you can really hit a good shot out there and make plenty of birdies. And the bad shots still, obviously, you have to hit shots. The bad shots are still getting punished. I really liked the test that was there today.

Q. (Off microphone)

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I hit the shot into the first hole. Yeah, I could have come from being 4 after four. I certainly was leading the proximity for the first four holes. I'm sure by the end of the day I'll be leading the proximities in the first four holes. Three-putt in 5 didn't help. I was out of position. You get out of position off the tee, and then I was out of position on the green, 3-putt.

6, yeah. 6 was interesting. Obviously, you're trying to miss it down the right. I pushed it down, and then I've chipped it too strong. I'm down to the front of the green where I didn't want to be in one, and I'm there in 2. You go, I can try and 2-putt this. And if I do try to 2-putt, I could 4-putt and take 6 at that hole. If you leave it short once, you're hitting it 15 feet by and missing and taking 6, but I had to convince myself to try and hit a good putt. Obviously, it's a fluke that it went in the hole, but it was a great putt. To make 4 from where I was in 2 was going to be a bonus, and seriously, in trouble of making 6 from there.

It's one of those things. I hit my tee shot, and it's not great, but when I chipped it, I was far worse off. That's often the case with Augusta. When you get out of position, you tend to compound. It's not just that easy to chip it 10 feet and go, well, I have a 10-footer. You miss the chip at all or get it wrong at all, you're down the slope and thinking double bogey or worse.

Q. Coming up on 16 and 17 --

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: 16, I just hit it left. Solid enough. I suppose it was 35 feet up the green. Pretty easy 2-putt, and I whiffed the first putt. Ten feet short and missed it.

At 17, yeah, I just didn't hit a good chip. I hit it long. I was just coming out of the semi-rough. I didn't want to be short of that pin. I knew you had to be past the pin coming back up where it was, and I didn't hit a good chip. That was it.

Nice enough to par the last. After making two bogeys, it would felt bad to finish with another bogey. Disappointing to the extent of I did feel like I could have shot the 69, 70 out there, which generally I never start very well in majors, so it would have been nice to get off to a good start and not have to be working ever so hard for the rest of week.

Q. Did it feel different from seven years ago, last time you were out there?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I'm a lot better now than I was seven years ago, yeah. Way, way better. A lot of the demons are buried at this stage.

Q. Would it be fair to say that the momentum started to shift at the 12th?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I missed a three-footer and hit a nice tee shot over the pin. First up, what can you do? It was into the wind. I had a 9-iron. You're not going to stand there and smooth it, are you, when you are first up. I played a nice bunker shot to three feet.

Of all the putts of the day, I wasn't committed to the line that I picked. I pushed it, and it went the wrong way, but I just wasn't committed to the line. I think if I had been -- excellent for the rest of the time. That was just one that got away from me. You know what, it's going to happen again to me in life.

Q. (Off microphone)

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Maybe a little bit this week. I went straight. Roman wanted me to go left to right, and I think if I hit a pure putt straight, it would have gone in, but the line was left half. Anybody that's left half from four feet up the green.

Q. The second on 13, was that just not the right club or the --

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Just the wind. We're playing it as nearly straight off the right a little bit in. We actually took it. I was going 5-iron. 205, 207. 5-iron draw. And Roman says, let's hit the 3 or 4 and try to get it into the green. I hit a nice cut.

I actually thought it was pitching 15 yards further up. I was more worried of it being right than short. I didn't think it was short. There's a little angle there, and I was just wanting it to be inside the angle thinking it was pitching, so it really did get hit by wind there, yeah.

As I said, it did get windy. When you stand on 15, there was a fair strong wind. At the top of the hill it was very windy going down there. In practice I probably would hit -- I could have got to the green with a 4-iron from where I was, and I was hitting a good solid draw with a 5-wood. It was blowing at that stage.

Q. Glass half full or half empty?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It's definitely half full. Maybe not for this week, but half full for life in general. I'm optimistic.