Padraig Harrington had a very good year in 2012. He won over $1.5 million and finished No. 62 in the FedEx Cup standings. He missed two cuts, the RBC Heritage and the Players Championship but had three top-10 finishes.
At age 41 he just dusted young stars Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, and Keegan Bradley at the PGA’s Grand Slam of Golf.
Even though Padraig has won 14 European tour events and five PGA Tour titles, he has struggled over the past few years and has not won since the 2008 PGA Championship. In 2011, he missed four cuts, only earned $800,000 and barely kept his PGA Tour card finishing No. 124 on the money list.
Over the summer Padraig made a run at qualifying for the European Ryder Cup Team but Captain Jose Maria Olazabal picked Nicolas Colsaerts rather than the veteran Harrington.
There have only been 28 golfers to ever win three or more major championships. Harrington is a member of that list. He won the Open Championship in consecutive years in 2007 and 2008. He also won consecutive majors in 2008, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship.
The World Golf Hall of Fame has been picking golfers lately soon after they turn 40. Ernie Els was inducted in 2011 at the age of 41 and Phil Mickelson was also 41 when inducted this year.
Fred Couples is 53 and was just elected to the Hall of Fame for 2013 induction. Freddie only has one major win although he was the No. 1 ranked player in the world for a few weeks and was a standout on several Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams.
Padraig Harrington has all of the credentials to be a World Golf Hall of Fame member.
Why do we keep hearing talk of Davis Love, Justin Leonard and others being inducted ahead of Padraig?