Padraig Harrington has long had a reputation as one of the game the hardest workersand in more recent years, the year 55 has also acquired a dedicated following on social mediawhere he regularly dispenses swing tips and course management wisdom.
But a recent online escapade has thrown the three-time major winner (and three-time US Senior Open winner) for a serious loop. Harrington became the latest player to take on the DP World Tour’s “Chase the Ace” challenge. The goal? Make a hole in one on a par-3 with 500 chances.
The scenery: the picturesque 8th hole at the K Club’s Palmer South Course. Harrington chose the pin location and the distance of 137 yards.
“It seems simple enough,” Harrington said. “Except the odds of punching a hole in one are 2500 to 1.”
Harrington’s effort began with a series of streaking shots – but he quickly discovered he was using the wrong club. Some adjustments on the fly resulted in a few shots landing within eight feet of the pin – but the ace remained elusive.
The full Harrington episode is 28 minutes long, and you can watch it in its entirety here on YouTube — but we’ll fast-forward to the spoiler alert. After firing 500 shots over the course of five hours, Harrington came up empty.
“It’s harder than you think,” he said.
At this week’s Amgen Irish Open, Harrington is in the field for his 31st consecutive year – a DP World Tour record. Before the game started Thursday, Harrington was asked about the 500-hit experience.
“I can’t believe I don’t have a hole in one,” he said. “I was so excited, I’m going to do this. I picked the pin position, 137 yards. So bad I really want to go and do it again. Yeah, I thought I was going to do it.”
Despite the disappointment of failing to record an ace, Harrington did, however, come away with an unexpected conviction: Never believe someone who says he hit 1,000 balls in a practice session.
“I took five hours and I had a 20-minute break where there are two groups – we had to let two groups play,” he said. “I found it difficult after 20 minutes to go back and play. I had about half a dozen, at least, coffee and half a dozen Diet Coke and continued to power through.
“By the way, it was 500 shots with a practice swing on most shots, OK. I very rarely took none and very rarely took more than one practice swing,” he continued. “So a practice swing, hit it. It took five hours, really going without stopping. So if someone ever tells you that they hit a thousand golf balls, absolute codswallop. Five hundred balls. Five hours solid with a 20 minute break. So you can’t make more than 100 golf balls an hour and that was running through, and my speed was done for the next day. days later. Anyone who tells you that 2000 dances, 3000 dances, can not do one day, but not more than one day.
Despite the fatigue he suffered from taking part in the challenge, Harrington said he would absolutely be game for another round.
“It was great fun. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, but not on a hole – 5-iron 137 yards. I picked a hole that had 500 yards of clean air in front of it, and it’s just a little cold. But what fun, I have to say. To be honest, I’ll do it the following Monday, if they don’t have anything to do the following Monday. Anyway, maybe 17 at Adare, 500 shots.
