Padraig Harrington is the golf gift that keeps on giving. Just put a microphone in front of the three-time major champion, and he’ll provide the goods: lengthy, considered and often thought-provoking opinions on the game he loves.
On Tuesday at the 2026 U.S. Senior Open, where he’s the defending champion, Harrington gave us something to think about again. This time, he offered a refreshing perspective on the life of modern pro golfers.
In short, Harrington argued that a typical tournament week would constitute a dream vacation for any normal golfer, and that modern pros complaining about “busy” schedules could use a reality check.
In the process of creating the new-look PGA Tour schedule for 2028 and beyond (which was unveiled last week), a lot of the narrative centered on balancing the schedules of the game’s best players.
At the 2026 U.S. Open, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler argued it was difficult for him to compete in pro events more than three weeks in a row.
Rory McIlroy, who has played in only nine PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments this season, was recently given a pass for failing to meet the 15-tournament minimum pros are required to play.
In his prime, Tiger Woods played fewer than 20 events most seasons.
By those standards, Harrington, who will turn 55 in August, is in the middle of mind-boggling eight straight weeks of tournament play.
“I’m playing eight in a row at the moment. This is number four,” Harrington said on Tuesday at the U.S. Senior Open, before adding, “When I’m 70 years of age, I won’t regret playing an extra event.”
When asked about how he handles such a “busy” schedule, Harrington offered some refreshing perspective.
“Who wouldn’t want to do what I do? Every tournament I turn up to, it’s in the best condition that golf course can be for us. Everything is looked after. Everything is like as good as can be,” Harrington said.
Additionally, he revealed that he often reminds himself that any tournament week — during which he gets to play an outstanding golf course in perfect conditions several days in a row — would be a dream holiday for most recreational players.
“So each week I play golf, and I have to try and remind myself of this, each week I play golf is like for a normal person who’s into their golf, they would save all their money to have that one week’s holiday a year, and I get to do it 30 times a year,” Harrington explained. “That’s not lost on me. I love playing golf. I love being out here competing.”
When the new-look PGA Tour arrives in 2028, elite players will face a 20-event schedule. While that may seem like a lot to some modern pros, Harrington sees things differently, arguing that when he started on Tour, 28 tournaments per year was the standard for most pros.
“Yeah, so I don’t have a problem playing lots of events. Like when I started as a pro, 28 tournaments was your standard,” he said. “It’s really got lost in this world, this idea of only playing 20 tournaments or something like that. It was always 28 as a pretty much standard back in the day.”
As for Harrington’s current stretch of play, following this week’s U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club in Ohio, he’ll travel to Scotland to play the Scottish Open and then to England for the Open at Royal Birkdale. The next week he’s back in Scotland for the Senior Open (where he’ll also be the defending champion), then he’s on to Portugal for the PGA Tour Champions Portugal Invitational.
The post ‘It’s really got lost’: Padraig Harrington thinks ‘busy’ pro golfers need reality check appeared first on Golf.
