By Jacob Heid

Sports Editor

STEVENS POINT – Padraig Harrington, the 2022 U.S. Senior Open champion, returns to defend his title in Wisconsin.  

The Irishman is coming off of a win at the Dicks Sporting Goods Open last week, shooting nine under par in the final round to win by a stroke. 

Coming to SentryWorld, he has seen similar conditions to what he’ll play this week in the U.S. Open at LA Country Club back on Jun. 15-18.

Harrington feeds off when golf courses play more difficult. 

“The tougher the golf course, the more I like it. The heavy rough [at SentryWorld], it’s not playing as heavy as L.A. Country Club, but it’s heavier than Oak Hill was at the PGA.”

He didn’t lay up out of the rough during the PGA Championship on the regular PGA Tour but will have second thoughts if he finds the long grass this week.

“I played Oak Hill at the PGA this year and I didn’t drive it particularly straight. I went for every green out of the rough. So I never had to chip out. I don’t think I’ll get away with that this week. I think there will be plenty of chip outs. Some of that’s due to hazards in the front of the green, so you might take a chance of trying to run one up. You’re not going to do that here.”

Harrington leads the Champions Tour in average driving distance at 304.5 yards, roughly 27 yards ahead of the tour’s average. 

That comes with both advantages and disadvantages for the defending champion. 

“I can carry the bunker down the first on the left-hand side. Because of that, if I hit a good drive on the first, it’s a drive and a gap wedge. All the players have to play out to the right and we’re hitting a long iron or certainly a mid-iron. So there are advantages on the golf course,” Harrington explained. “But like a lot of times with golf, even if you have an advantage, you still have to play the best golf. If I play to my strengths, great. I’ll be right there at the top of the leaderboard. By the time you play the tournament, the rough is getting trampled down. But, where I’m driving it, it’s not getting trampled down, so I won’t have that advantage.”

Harrington finished up playing the back nine on Wednesday and starts his title defense on the back nine on Thursday, teeing it up with Darren Clarke and amateur Rusty Strawn at 8:34 a.m.