Pod makes drastic swing decision

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bruced
June 14, 2009

Padraig Harrington, whose loss of form has plunged him into one of the lowest points of his career, has made a drastic decision.

Padraig Harrington, whose inexplicable loss of form has plunged him into one of the lowest points of his career, has made a drastic decision.

He is going to abandon the swing change he has been tinkering with for the past six months and, for this coming week’s US Open, go back to the basics that won him two of his three majors last year – his second Open title and his first PGA Championship.

The Irish star, who, despite missing his last three cuts, failing to break par in his last 11 rounds and, since January, falling from No 3 to No 11 in the world rankings, nevertheless gives the impression of not allowing his current plight to loom too large on his horizon when he admitted this week, “No, I haven’t had such a great start, I have been kind of focused on other things.

“I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of my swing, trying to figure something out. Certainly the last eight months I’ve been heavily focused on it,” he explained while confirming that he had halted the work he has been doing on his swing and spend all the time he had left concentrating on his short game and his putter.

The trouble is, his decision may have come to late to enable him to win a rare fourth major.

Accuracy off the tee and with approach shots at Bethpage Black this week won’t be as critical as it was in 2002 when Tiger Woods was victorious, this because the course will have a ‘graduated rough’ that is no longer as punishing to those who don’t stray too far off the fairways.

But a good, solid swing will still be necessary if a harassed Harington is going to dig his way out of the pit of mediocracy into which he has been plunged and the question now facing him and his followers is will he have time to get it right?

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