U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 25, 2025

Padraig Harrington

The Broadmoor (East Course)

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington and the 2022 U.S. Senior Open champion. At the Broadmoor out here, what have you seen from the course, and what kind of skill set do you need to play well out here and be in contention this week?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It's certainly old school, there's no doubt about it. I know we're at altitude and most of the conversation is going to be about altitude, dealing with how far the ball is going and not going, depending on -- there's quite a lot of things going into -- uphill and downhill is having a big effect. Obviously the temperature is having a big effect.

I think as regards that, it's about patience, and you're going to get it wrong at times. That's just the way it is. You're going to hit some good shots that go over the back of the greens, which tends not to be good. You're going to spin the odd one off the green. You're going to have to accept that and be patient.

Outside of that, I think the real skill of this week is being good on the greens. The greens are, as I said, very old school, treacherous at the speeds that we play them at these days and with the slopes and that. Knowing where to hit it, knowing where the right place to miss and then you're just going to have to be good. No matter how good you putt, you're going to have a lot of putts up and over slopes, so you're going to have three-, four-, five-footers off your good putts. It's just going to be a relentless week of taking it on the chin, and if it runs five feet by, not complaining, and get up there and hit your best putt and get on with it.

Q. You've now played in 17 U.S. Opens. I think this is your fourth U.S. Senior Open. More than 20 USGA championships. What have you come to expect from a USGA-set-up course?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Look, I'm very pleasantly surprised with the USGA Senior Open. They kind of set up a major championship, a senior major championship like maybe what we would have played 20 years ago. Very similar. Obviously things have changed in that time, equipment and stuff like that, but it's very familiar to early 2000s. The rough is reasonably heavy, very heavy around the greens. You're going to expect difficulty on the greens. So yeah, very, very similar. If you can hit it straight and hit it in the middle of the green -- even hitting in the middle of the green this week will be a difficulty. But if you can keep it on the fairway, hit lots of greens, you're really reducing the stress this week, and as I said, there is going to be a lot of stress with the altitude causing problems, and on the greens it's just not easy to hit every putt stone dead, so you're going to be putting a lot of three and four-footers.

Q. How much have you played at altitude, and what sort of adjustments do you have to make?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I've played a lot with altitude over the years, down in South Africa, play a big event in Crans, Montana, up in Switzerland, so a lot of altitude over the years.

I don't know if you're still learning, but the standard practice is to use a meters book instead of a yardage book just for the psychology of if you've got 200 yards and you're trying to hit a 7-iron, that's hard to do, whereas if it's 180 meters you're thinking, that's okay. Just psychology-wise it's better to have it in meters. Then you're going to find out that depending on the air temperature and the air density, in the morning the ball doesn't go as far. Afternoon it starts going quite a bit.

What I'm finding is the uphill and downhill is having a big effect. If we would add 10 yards on for a certain uphill shot, it's actually playing 15, 20 yards up the hill, and the reverse downhill; if it's 10 yards downhill, in the altitude it's actually playing shorter. Could be 15 yards or so. So that's been quite interesting.

Then if we get any wind, any swirling wind at all, now we're up in the mountains where it's swirling wind. You're just not going to get it right all the time. You've got to be very patient with it and hopefully you don't get too many bad breaks or you make the most of those bad breaks but you're going to get them.

Q. Let's talk about your game. You've had three top 10 finishes this year, runner-up at Congressional in the Senior PGA. How do you feel about the state of your game going into this week?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, I haven't had a great year. The PGA I played quite well in, so yeah, I'm hoping to find that sort of form again this week. Obviously 72-hole tournaments, the bigger golf courses would tend to suit me. Not a lot of drivers this week.

I will say, there's a few early on on the golf course and then it kind of goes away. You don't get to hit too many after that. I don't know if that's going to be an advantage this week. But I think I'm playing well enough. Just get my head in the game, be good mentally, and as I said, you're wanting a good week on the greens especially.

I think the mental challenge is always going to suit me. The harder it is, the more fortitude you need, those are the sort of traits that have been good for me over the years. I've played -- I haven't played the course too much. I think we've played about 20 holes at this stage, so I'm hoping I don't get caught out with not knowing it well enough. But the holes I did play, I put the work in, so I should be okay.

But at some stage I'm going to make a mistake not knowing a certain pin is difficult. Guys have played twice here before, I think, in the U.S. Seniors, so they have an advantage to some extent. But yeah, hopefully I don't get caught out with that and my mistakes aren't costly during the week.

Q. Forgive me for not knowing, but how much have you competed in Colorado?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Never been here before. First time. Beautiful. Really beautiful. Fantastic up here. As I said, I'm used to the altitude, but the Broadmoor is really nice. We're having a great time. Everything about the event is great. Just need to play good golf.

Q. Based on the holes that you've practiced on so far, how difficult is this course?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: The greens are treacherous. They're very old school, and when you have those slopes in greens and they get them a little quicker with the heavy rough, it can be difficult. Some of that then depends on how it's set up, with what sort of pin positions they use. Tee to green I'm very happy with it, but yeah, around the greens it's very difficult.

A lot depends on, as I said, what the tournament, how they want to set it up. They could make it really impossible. They could make it a little bit more generous. We'll wait and see. Over the four years -- they'll be reasonable with us. There will be a few pin positions that we'll all go, ooh, that's a bit much, but that's the nature of these type of greens.

As I said, you just hope that you hit the right shots at the right time. We're all going to make mistakes or get things wrong, and sometimes you don't get punished and other times you do. That's the nature of golf. It's an outdoor game.

So this week, as I said, there's going to be some mysteries, as we would say, balls going over greens or short, and you can't do anything about it. You just have to take it and make the most of it. As I said, the winner probably will make the most of it; when things go wrong, he'll recover, he'll keep his head for the week, and that's certainly my goal is not to lose the head about getting anything wrong because I'm sure it's going to happen a few times.