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Irish Independent
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Pádraig Harrington blames himself for Senior PGA loss: ‘I've had a lifelong problem with getting confident and cocky'
Seven-under-par 'doing handstands' after 14 holes and two shots clear of eventual champion Angel Cabrera, the Dubliner (53) hooked a five-wood into heavy rough at the 15th and made a double bogey six that proved fatal. 'I got off to a good start,' Harrington said as he watched Cabrera three-putt the last and still win by a shot from him and Thomas Bjorn on eight-under. 'Kept my head down. Like seven-under through 14, I could have been more, doing handstands. 'You know, I've had a lifelong problem with getting confident and cocky, and I did on the 15th tee box. It was such a simple tee shot. 'Five-wood, a little draw down there, and I just totally didn't get into it enough and then panicked at the last moment and hit a big hook. 'It's always plagued me my whole life since I've been a kid. Just get overconfident and just don't. I'd be much better off if I got to the 15th hole and there was water everywhere. 'Probably would've done a better job. Sometimes, it just follows me around. I can get overconfident.' Harrington had outside birdie chances on the last three greens but ended up three-putting the 18th for bogey and a 68 after missing a three-foot return putt. 'Didn't see that break at all,' he said of his approach putt. 'You know, obviously I missed a putt back up the hill. We are on the Champions Tour. That's all I'll say about that.' What galled him was the drive on the 15th, which reminded him how he lost the 1990 Irish Youths at Dundalk. 'I lost a tournament when I was 18 years of age - what was it called, the Irish Youths - and I did the exact same thing,' Harrington recalled. 'Two ahead with three to play and relaxed. I'm much better off with nerves and tension. 'I was just relaxed on 15 and then I did it on 18 tee, 72nd hole at Carnoustie [in the 2007 Open]. I couldn't see myself hitting a bad - that was the exact same. Stood there so confident, and at the last moment I had a little bit of doubt. 'If you start off with doubt, when you feel doubt over the ball, it doesn't feel so bad. If you start off confident, then you feel doubt. It's like a blow-up. So, yeah, so I was just too confident. Happens.' He managed to regroup to win that Open, but seeing off Sergio Garcia in the playoff was a struggle. 'Yeah, you know, like when I went to the playoff, I was at a two-shot lead playing the fourth playoff hole at Carnoustie,' he said. 'All I kept telling myself walking from the 17th to the 18th because I'd done it again for the eight-footer for birdie on the third playoff hole. Lost all the intensity. 'I kept telling myself I could still lose. I'm the only person that has to walk onto the tee, and I'm trying to get myself going by saying it's not over. 'Whereas I think on 15 I am relaxed and thinking, you know -- not that you think it's over, but I just rushed into the shot and it was just -- didn't give it its due respect.' Cabrera played the 18th with a two-shot lead, and his three-putt bogey only added to the watching Harrington's frustration. 'I'd just really like him to two-putt, and he's not,' he said as he watched Cabrera misjudge his first putt. 'Oh, God.' 'Yeah, look, I'm disappointed now. Yeah, could be a lot more disappointing if he doesn't hole that.'
Irish Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Playing darts for Ireland at the World Cup is an honour - but it comes at a cost
WHEN you think about darts, South Korea certainly isn't a country that would immediately spring to mind. Yet such is the reach and ever growing popularity of the game, that all roads will lead to the Asian country this September for the 2025 WDF World Cup. The choice of this year's host country is all part of a plan to promote darts in regions where it might not have been so popular before. With China just producing their first ever snooker world champion in Zhao Xintong, how long will it be before Asian players take over on the oche too? For Ireland's part, our Ladies team are the reigning WDF World Cup champions and they will be in no mood to hand that title up when they rock up in South Korea in September. Three of the team that won the World Cup in 2023 - Robyn Byrne, Katie Sheldon and Aoife McCormack - will be back for another crack at it and will be joined by Donegal's darting stalwart Denise Cassidy. Under the expert eye of Galway man, Kevin Devaney, this team will be one to be feared again for sure. The Men's team isn't half bad either, with Ireland's number one, Offaly's Stephen Rosney, joined by reigning WDF Six Nations Singles champion Gerard McGlynn of Donegal and the Waterford pair of Dean Finn and Paddy Quinn. Quinn certainly reckons they will have what it takes to compete against the very best in the world, starting with the WDF Six Nations Cup in Wales next month. Meanwhile the Irish Youths teams will also be strongly represented at the World Cup. The Boys team will be made up of the WDF Europe Cup winning captain, Aidan O'Hara of Tipperary and Carlow's rising star Jack Courtney. They will be joined in Korea by the Girls pairing of Zoe Burke and Rachel Ivers, from Laois, who will no doubt pose a threat to all the big teams at the competition. While the opportunity to represent their country at a World Cup will be a huge honour for all 12 players involved, it does come at a huge cost. The Irish National Darts Organisation (INDO) will be looking at shelling out the guts of €30,000 to get their teams to South Korea. As a voluntary organisation, that is going to entail a fair bit of fundraising on their behalf, with an idonate fundraiser now up and running to help with the costs. To donate, please click on the link below.
