SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda - Earlier this week, Padraig Harrington got on a plane for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hiatus. His destination: the Bermuda Championship, his first PGA TOUR start since the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in March. The 2021 Ryder Cup European Captain (originally scheduled for last month) drove to the first four European Tour events in which he competed post-hiatus. Harrington will play next week's Vivint Houston Open on a sponsor's exemption, and he gained Bermuda Championship entry on a minor medical extension. Timing aligned for the six-time TOUR winner (including three majors) to make his TOUR return, at a course on which he won the 2013 Grand Slam of Golf. Harrington stands 4 under through two rounds at Port Royal GC, including an even-par 71 on a windswept Friday at Port Royal GC, a day which featured a scoring average north of 73. The 49-year-old stands four back of co-leaders Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark, positioned to chase his first TOUR win since the 2015 Honda Classic. "I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight," said Harrington after Friday's second round at the sub-7,000-yard Port Royal layout. "At the end of the day, firm greens, fast greens and wind all defend a golf course. It can't always be predictable.” "It was tough out there. They set the golf course up particularly easy today. The tees were up, pins were up ... they couldn't have made the course any easier." Harrington described his current form off the tee "the best I've ever hit it," a combination of length and accuracy that fosters confidence. The 15-time European Tour winner turns 50 next August and admitted that he sometimes checks the scores on PGA TOUR Champions before those of any other Tour - "I don't know what that tells you." His plan is to play wherever he thinks he can win. This week on the shores of the Atlantic, he believes he can do just that. "If I don't think I can win out here, I won't play here," Harrington said. "I'm not here to turn out; I'm here to try and win. Wherever I'm playing, in my head I think I can win." Improved driving has gone a long way toward his current mentality. "I've always worked on my driving, and always try to get more speed, more speed," Harrington said. "With the work I've done on my driving, in training I get lots more speed, so I can play well within myself on the course. It's not like I can get 196 (mph) ball speed at home; I'm not getting anywhere near that. At the speeds I'm getting, I'm getting it with a very controlled, shorter swing. "So it means that on a nice distance, now I hit it straight, which I haven't hit it straight. The last tournament I played in Europe (Scottish Championship), I led strokes gained: off-the-tee, which, that's never happened." Harrington said that Ryder Cup captaincy duties won't kick into high gear until January - "it's all about me at the moment." When that changes, though, he believes his process at this stage of his career will allow him to simultaneously compete and fulfill captaincy duties at a high level. Earlier in his career, he'd get up three-and-a-half hours before his tee time for physio, training and the like. Now, "a few stretches and off. I can go on a much quicker time frame." "How do I balance it? Basically I'm older, and I know I can't do as much," Harrington said. "I just have to take it a little easier and not do my old schedule, and that kind of suits the Ryder Cup, because I'm busy with that." And if current form is any indication, he just might position himself to play his way onto his own team. "I spent the past couple years struggling on cut lines," Harrington said. "Now I feel like I can be patient and still be in contention on Sunday."
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