Padraig Harrington insists he is playing better than ever, having broken a four-year slump by winning the Indonesia Open last month.
“I do believe that my game is better than ever. I’ve been working on some good mental stuff. It came through in Indonesia,” the triple Major winner told RTÉ.
The Dubliner, who was a vice-captain on the victorious Ryder Cup team, admitted that a fortuitous storm played its part in the win, his first since the 2010 Johor Open.
Having led for the first three days, Harrington threatened to implode as Thailand's Thanyakon Khrongph took the lead in the fourth round.
“I got ahead and I played awesome actually for 54 holes,” he said.
“And then a old habit came back, which I’ve always struggled with when I’m leading a tournament, when I’m confident: I struggle on easy shots, and virtually fell apart for the start of the fourth round, six or seven holes.
"I lost 11 shots to the guy I was competing against in the space of 11 holes.
“There was a thunderstorm in the air and I was just praying that would come in. It was a young kid I was competing against and maybe I’m a bit mean [but] I knew that his momentum would be halted if that storm came in and I knew I needed a break.
"Thankfully a storm came in on the ninth and everything changed when we came back out.”
Despite ending the drought, the 43-year-old said he classes the victory as "nice but not very important”.
“I was doing a lot of good things in my game and I could see things turning around so the importance of it was that things worked. Winning is important but maybe a bigger tournament, that would be a milestone again,” he added.
