Patience Padraig's newfound virtue

Padraig Harrington has always known that patience is a virtue; it was just that he sometimes had trouble putting it into practice.

At some point this season, just before the US Open at Winged Foot, he made a conscious decision not to walk off a golf course with his stomach "churning", as he put it, and to change his attitude to one more accepting of the fates the golfing gods had bestowed on him. In effect, he would be patient.

The upshot of that alteration in his mindset ultimately led to Harrington's season being transformed from an average one into a brilliant one, culminating in his victory in the PGA European Tour's Order of Merit.

Forever more, his name will be engraved - alongside some of the greatest in the game, like those of Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo - on the Harry Vardon Trophy, awarded to the money winner on tour.

He was also named yesterday as the Tour's Golfer of the Month for October.

After a relatively poor first part to the season, Harrington's form in the second half - from the US Open on, where he finished fifth, just two shots adrift of winner Geoff Ogilvy - brought with it four runner-up finishes, one in America and three in Europe, and a victory in the Dunhill Links championship.

The last of those second-place finishes came in the weekend's Volvo Masters, a feat that enabled him to leapfrog Paul Casey to top the Order of Merit.

Harrington, who has a well-earned week off before embarking on an end-of-year odyssey that will see him play in China, Japan, South Africa, Barbados and California, has remained at number 11 in the official world rankings.

A consequence of his Order of Merit achievement is, however, that he will reap the financial benefits of bonuses built into his numerous sponsorships and, with an eye to the future, his marketability has been greatly enhanced.

In pinpointing how that sea change in his mental approach came about, Harrington explained: "The thing is, when I wasn't doing so well at the start of the year, I was actually playing good golf, but not performing so good. I would come off the golf course churning up inside. I had to change that attitude in the last six months so that I'd walk off the course not feeling hard done by."

It got to the stage where Harrington's caddie, Ronan Flood, would refer to a particular scene from a Harry Potter film.

"I made the change before the US Open, just after the British Masters," said Harrington.

"I knew I had to go away and not be beating myself up if the results weren't happening, that I needed to just concentrate on the process. If you do that, you're comfortable with yourself at the end of the day. Ronan would remind me of the need for that, by saying, c'mon, we'll get the industrial iron and iron your hands if you feel so bad about yourself.

"That's part of it. You can't beat yourself up with it when things are going badly, and if I'd had that attitude, I would never have won the Order of Merit. I would never have been in position that if things went right for me for the last five holes I would win it. I would have long blown myself out. What I am saying is that you have to be very patient, to do your thing and not feel as though you have to go home and iron your hands."

The transformation in Harrington's fortunes in the second part of the season ultimately led to the late charge to overhaul Casey. Patience, he believed, was the key.

"I had been doing that very well for the last six months and from the US Open onwards. I have been very good and my focus has been great and I realised that if I prepare properly (for tournaments), I really do give myself a good chance. If I get my preparations right, I walk off the golf course afterwards and I don't feel stressed. I feel comfortable."

Of the way he crept up on his money rivals to lift the number one spot in Europe for the first time, a landmark in an 11-year-old professional career, Harrington commented: "The thing is that, two months ago, I got three bad breaks coming down the 18th in the BMW (in Munich) to finish second and it would have been very easy for me to have lost patience and lost my head. But I could walk away from it saying I approached everything the way I wanted to, just as I did at the Dunhill when I ended up winning.

"And I did again at the Volvo Masters, even though I finished up second. But I approached it hitting all the shots how I wanted to hit them and never once lost my patience. I was in the right frame of mind.

"And though it went against me at the BMW, where I had to walk away with a smile on my face, now I've walked away from Valderrama with the same smile on my face. I am not going to make myself more confident based solely on results; I am going to make myself more confident based on the fact that I got the ball up and down and kept my focus at the right places."

The best example of that scrambling came on the final two holes of Sunday's final round, which he described post-tournament as "vintage Harrington". But it was the approach he had adopted, in victory and defeat, over the months leading up to it that led to him believing he could play those shots.

"I said at the start of the week that if I prepared right for the tournament I couldn't ask for any more and I got everything right all through the week. I had a tough time on the greens, not getting the breaks, but because my preparation was good I didn't lose patience and I stuck with it."

That patience was rewarded with a run of eight single putts over the final eight holes.

Harrington's first outing as Europe's number one will be competing in next week's Champions Tournament in Shanghai, the start of a new journey.

Except that, this time, he will set out as the defending champion of one of the most prestigious honours in the game.