Born: August 31, 1971
Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 196 lbs.
Turned Pro: 1995
Bio
An accomplished player overseas, Padraig Harrington has split his time the last two seasons on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Although he is still without a PGA victory he has won nine times internationally and is considered by many to be the best player in the world without a major.
Padraig was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. As a youngster his dad was involved in building a local golf course which would turn into a permanent hangout for Padraig. He was raised in a family of golfers, and being the competitive player he is was, he was a scratch handicap before he turned 16.
As a junior and senior amateur player Padraig was very successful. He won a number of amateur titles and represented Ireland in several European and International competitions.
Since turning pro in 1995 Padraig has won nine times and has innumerable runner-up finishes. He has also been a big part of three Ryder Cup teams, two of which ended in European victories. He has been ranked as high as sixth in the world rankings and is a threat to win any tournament he competes in.
Quick Facts
International Victories
(10): 1996 Peugeot Spanish Open. 2000 Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open, BBVA Open Turespana Masters Comunidad de Madrid. 2001 Volvo Masters. 2002 Dunhill Links Championship, BMW Asian Open. 2003 Deutsche Bank – SAP Open TPC of Europe [Eur], Omega Hong Kong Open [Eur]. 2004 Linde German Masters [Eur], 2005 Honda Classic.
Equipment
Padraig Harrington signed an endorsement deal with Wilson Golf a couple years ago. His bag is made up mostly of Wilson clubs and he has a great deal of input into the designs of new clubs that Wilson brings to market. Many of the new clubs that you see from Wilson have been played at some point by Padraig.
The driver he carries is the newest driver from Wilson. It is the Staff Pd5 with 7.5 degrees of loft. This is a 400cc head that Padraig plays with a Grafalloy ProLite 35 shaft, X-flex at 45 ¼". Padraig hits the ball quite high and likes the low loft to reduce spin on the ball.
He uses a Callaway Big Bertha 3+ fairway wood with 13 degrees of loft. He also has a Callaway Steelhead Plus 5 wood with 18 degrees of loft. The five-wood will be in the bag for courses that require more long carries but on windy courses Padraig will carry a 2-iron. Recently Padraig has been experimenting with the new Wilson FwS 5-wood. This club also has 18 degrees of loft.
Padraig also plays the new Wilson Pi5 irons; a set that he had a great deal of input in the design of. Interestingly enough Wilson introduced a forged, progressive cavity set of irons last year but Padraig has elected to use the cast, cavity back irons instead. He carries these 2-PW or 3-PW depending on the course. The irons are bent 1-degree upright and have the Royal Precision Tour Flighted 7.2 Rifle shafts. Padraig uses a very firm shaft to keep his ball-flight down.
Padraig carries two Wilson wedges other than the Pi5 pitching wedge. He also carries the Wilson TW5 wedges in a 52 and 58 degree.
For a long time Padraig trusted a 32" Odyssey 2-Ball White Hot Blade putter. Recently though he has been experimenting with a new Wilson model. The new model is called the Kc4. The Kc stands for Kirk Currie, a designer Wilson has enlisted to create these putters. The Kc4 is an alignment style putter that allows the user to customize the looks and feel.
Because Padraig tries to keep the ball-flight low, he uses the low-spinning Titleist ProV1X golf ball. All grips he uses are Golf Pride Victory standard size.