Padraig Harrington sizzles to tee up chance to make HISTORY on DP World Tour

Padraig Harrington teed up a chance to become the oldest winner on the DP World Tour at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.

Ben Smith

21 Jan 2023

Padraig Harrington sizzles to tee up chance to make HISTORY on DP World Tour — Padraig Harrington sizzles to tee up chance to make HISTORY on DP World…

Padraig Harrington says "it would mean an awful lot" to become the oldest winner on the DP World Tour after teeing up a chance for victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Harrington, 51, has had a huge following over the past three days at Yas Links and briefly held the clubhouse lead on Saturday following a sublime 8-under 64.

That included a stretch of six consecutive birdies from hole No. 11.

If Harrington were to be victorious at the first Rolex Series event of 2023 - which carries a prize purse of $9m - he would become the oldest winner by 11 days.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez holds the record when he won the 2014 Spanish Open aged 50 years and 133 days.

Harrington was in full bloom in 2022 and claimed four PGA Tour Champions victories.

He wants to still "mix it with the big boys" and his 64 and proved his continued efforts off the course are paying off.

Harrington told the media:

"I think it would mean an awful lot to me to become the oldest winner. If I went and won right now, I actually think it would mean something totally different. It would mean that I am actually competitive.

"You know, if I go and win out of the blue somewhere and steal a win, that's nice. I can put it down on my C.V. as the oldest winner.

"But if I come into tournaments talking a big game and deliver, that means I'm a player again with the young guys, and it would be other goals I would be seeking out, not just a sort of random sneaky win at my age."

.@ShaneLowryGolf takes the lead at Yas Links. #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/wq4XOKWAen
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 21, 2023

Harrington's last DP World Tour victory at the 2016 Portugal Masters. It marked his 15th victory on the European-based circuit.

By the end of play on Saturday it was Australia's Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry and Francesco Molinari who shared the clubhouse lead at 13-under.

Scotland's Grant Forrest, Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg, and France's Victor Perez are T-3 at 12-under.

Adrian Meronk, George Coetzee and Antoine Rozner round off the top-10 and still have a chance to claim the win as they are only two strokes off the lead.

A number of LIV Golf League players teed it up this week. Those included Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson.

Each player has made strong comments about LIV and the DP World Tour.

Next page: Luke Donald reacts to LIV situation