U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 2, 2023

Padraig Harrington

SentryWorld

Quick Quotes

Q. We talked earlier this week, just never -- I know you didn't have it kind of starting with mentally dialed in.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, looking coming off a tricky golf course, a win. That sums up my last hole. I had five great shots on my last hole to make bogey. So that sums up my week.

It's a tricky course. There's a lot of -- took the driver out of play. I think we only got to hit it three times a day, four times a day, something like that. Obviously then kind of you're back in the field then. A lot of 5-woods and irons off the tee.

Yeah, I didn't hit my 5-wood great this week if I picked out any club.

Outside of that, everything else was pretty solid. Sloppy double bogeys. You can't do many of those. It clearly just wasn't my week.

Q. You were still the first in driving even though you couldn't pull it out much this week.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: This week?

Q. Yes.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I only hit 5-wood off the tee. They got me by 50 yards the first day and 11 yards the second day.

If I'm leading driving, I used a 5-wood chip off the first days and the 3-wood one day. I hit driver off the other driving distance hole once in the water so they gave me where I dropped it 50 yards back.

On day two, they gave me 288, and I hit it four yards short of it on day three, and yet I got 297. Maybe they gave me the extra yards I got back. So whatever was going on with the driving distance, as I said, it was -- to use the 2nd hole as a driving distance hole was like bizarre.

Two hazards at 280, downhill chipping it. I just chipped a 5-wood off the hole the first three days.

Q. Can you describe the hole here? It was your first USGA Championship being the senior --

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Oh, it was great. It was really nice at the full U.S. Open being the U.S. Senior champion. It was a good week; played well.

Obviously I was disappointed this week. As I said, on Friday we finished taking the garbage in with us. Not (indiscernible) out on the golf course.

So that was a bit -- obviously bogeying the last hole didn't get much of enjoyment out of it. But for the U.S. Open, it was very nice being the Senior Open champion. It has been all year. It's incredibly impressive if Bernhard goes on to win it at his age. What an achievement that is.

Q. Would you say, given your distance and you're No. 1 there, would you say this is a course that favors a tactician like Bernhard?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I think I'm a good tactician. Really good tactician.

Q. That's what I was saying. I wasn't saying the opposite.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, just -- it's just a tricky golf course. I had no advantage. These guys are good. These guys are very good. Bernhard is particularly good.

Some weeks I have an advantage that I can take advantage of. There are weeks I have no advantage, and I have to beat them fair and square. This is a week I have no advantage, and I got beaten well and truly by the field.

As I said, some weeks you get like that. I hit it in the rough, and I never once laid up. Here I hit it in the rough, and every time I seemed to find the worst of the lie I could get. That's golf. It's the nature of the game.

As I said, I hit five great shots at the last to make a bogey. Last week I hit five shots and made 7-under for six holes or 6-under for seven. I can't even remember at this stage.

Q. Maybe it's his week. He took his socks off, in the water, and still made birdie on 5.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: There you go. Who did that?

Q. Bernhard.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Hit his tee shot in the water, second shot?

Q. Second shot. But it was up where he could hit it.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: He went for the green?

Q. Yeah.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: There you go. That's it. That's golf. It's the nature of the game. None of us are rarely good enough to overcome getting a few breaks or getting a few bad breaks at the end of the day.

You can be good enough to be in contention, but you can't overcome everything if you know what I mean. If you have a bad week, you have a bad week. If you have a good week, you're going to be in contention. That's the nature of golf.

That's a perfect example there. He makes 4 today. Same shot is in the water, and he's making 6. It's no different physically. You've got to play your golf and take advantage, which Bernhard is doing.

I don't think he's getting many good breaks out there. I know you're telling me that, but he looks like he's played great.