NEWS: Padraig Harrington Questions Tiger’s Strategy Heading Into The Open

Outside of a few outliers, the year that Tiger Woods has had on the PGA TOUR is one for the history books. But now heading into the final major of the year, he’s receiving some criticism.

The criticism is coming from Padraig Harrington, the two-time major champion that is hoping to claim his third Open Championship in a few weeks. Harrington, now 47, is working hard to get his game into a good place before the last major tees off but he has also noticed how Tiger is preparing. And in his mind, Harrington isn’t sure how Tiger’s style shows that he is serious about competing in the tournament.

“I personally think if you’re serious about winning the Open you’ve got to be playing tournament golf at least before it,” Harrington said at Lahinch Golf Club, during the Irish Open. “You’d rather be playing links golf and being in a tournament than just [playing] on your own, so if you’re serious about trying to win the Open you should be playing at least one, if not two, of the events running into it.”

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As Padraig alludes to, Tiger has decided not to participate in any events leading up to the Open Championship after finishing a T-21 at the U.S. Open in June. The biggest criticism that Harrington has is that he believes links golf is completely different than anything else Tiger has been playing and that he will be giving up a lot of shots without practicing on the links in the run-up to the event.

With all that being said, Harrington, who will be the Ryder Cup captain for the Europeans in 2020, said he respects Tiger’s game and he’s impressed with what he’s been able to do in his career. He chalks it up to different personalities. For his part, Harrington is playing in the Irish Open this week and is currently in contention, only five shots behind the lead.

Even if he thinks that his strategy is better, Tiger is certain to head into the Open with a much better shot at winning than Harrington. And at the end of the day, the results of their tournament may prove who has the better preparation plan moving forward.

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