PADRAIG HARRINGTON SAYS Rory McIlroy can’t second-guess his new clubs if he wants the Nike switch to be a winner.
McIlroy found himself fielding questions about his big-money equipment deal at the HSBC Championships last week where he ditched his new Nike putter and reverted to his old Scotty Cameron club after just one round.
Despite the change, the world number one missed the cut in Abu Dhabi and now has a four-week break to get up to speed with his new clubs before he returns to the course at the WGC Accenture World Match Play Championship.
Harrington has come under the spotlight time and again for tinkering with his game, even after a remarkable stretch which saw him win three Major championships in the space of 13 months. He says it is McIlroy’s confidence rather than the clubs that will be the biggest factor from this point on.
“Rory has changed. The horse has bolted,” Harrington told Newstalk’s The Right Hook where he was speaking to promote the Oesophageal Cancer Fund’s Lollipop Day.
Now the key for Rory is that he has to wholeheartedly make sure that he does not let the world undermine his confidence in that change.
He’s got to believe in his equipment. I walk on to the tee every day and believe I have the very best equipment. He can walk on to the tee with different equipment and he has to believe he’s got the best equipment.
It doesn’t matter who has — I’ve got to believe it, he’s got to believe it. That is the key. No second-guessing.
Harrington also backed his fellow Dubliner Paul McGinley as the ideal man to captain Europe in their bid to make it three-in-a-row at the 2014 Ryder Cup in Gleneagles.
“He just loves team events which is very, very odd for a professional golfer because professional golf is a very selfish sport. He’s fascinated with it.
“He has sacrificed the last three years of his playing career and the next 18 months of his golf playing career for this team event. He is just absorbed by it.
“I’m delighted he got it. I believe he’ll do a great job. He’s enthusiastic about it but nobody has ever put as much effort into it, certainly in professional golf.”
