Padraig Harrington, once an aspiring accountant, has been defying odds for years

An American visitor to Padraig Harrington’s beautiful country estate in Ireland a few years back was having difficulty sleeping in the wee hours of the morning, jet-lagged from a long transatlantic flight. He decided to flip open his computer to catch up on a few emails.

Good thing he was awake. What followed was a loud, sudden sound that rose from downstairs, bullet-like, and seemed to shake the walls of his guest room. THWACK!!! Silence followed for a few seconds, and then another thunderclap. THWACK!!!

Apparently, Harrington was as restless as his visitor, and had climbed out of bed with a certain swing thought. That’s what he does. So, he acted on it, smashing balls into a home simulator while even the field mice outdoors were trying to catch a few winks.

Asked to confirm this story as he made a recent two-hour drive from Chicago to Haven, Wisconsin, to play and scout Whistling Straits, Harrington laughs, and quickly offers an explanation to his sometimes strange and quirky ways.

“I’ve hit drivers past midnight, yes,” says Harrington, a three-time major champion and six-time Ryder Cup competitor who will captain Europe at the 43rd Ryder Cup on Sept. 24-26.

“Now, I don’t know about 3 in the morning,” he adds in his thick, pleasant Irish lilt. “It would be more likely that I would be out doing stuff during the day, and I would come home and be feeling that I hadn’t done my bit that day. So, maybe hitting balls for an hour or so, even if it was late, I could say I got my work done and move on.”

U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker and European Captain Padraig Harrington onstage during an interview on the Feherty Live, Countdown to the Ryder Cup show, as part of the Ryder Cup 2020 Year to Go media event, in 2019 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Harrington never has been afraid to put in the work. He has compressed and punished as many golf balls through the years as has Vijay Singh, long the gold standard of practicing, and seems to enjoy every ball that he strikes. Twelve-hour early-week workdays at tournaments? Those were routine.

Harrington has turned those in for years, forever grinding and tinkering in his endless pursuit to get better.

His golf career always has been something of an unexpected bonus. At age 18, Harrington wasn’t convinced that he had the talent or confidence needed to be a successful touring pro. So, he enrolled in night classes for 4½ years, obtaining his degree in accountancy. Perhaps, he thought, he could become an accountant and carve out a life managing a golf club somewhere. He was 24 when he decided to try professional golf.

All these years later, Harrington owns 15 European Tour titles to go with six PGA Tour victories. Two replica Claret Jugs from his two Open Championships (2007, 2008) shine brightly atop an island in the middle of his kitchen, there for him to view each morning. In the next room, at the end of a long formal dining table, is the Wanamaker Trophy that he won at the 2008 PGA Championship. (“I stole that one,” he likes to say.)

Now Harrington will captain Europe in golf’s grandest spectacle, the Ryder Cup.

Padraig Harrington, of Ireland, celebrates after sinking a putt for par on 18th hole that gave him the win in the 90th PGA Championship golf tournament Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008, at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich.

Without hesitation, the Dubliner will concede that he has greatly overachieved. Now comes one of his tallest assignments yet: He leads Team Europe into Wisconsin to take on a U.S. side that will be a prohibitive favorite. Forget, for a moment, that Europe has won four of the past five Ryder Cups, and nine of the past 12. The U.S. team is stacked. Nine U.S. players enter the Ryder Cup ranked among the top 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Three won majors in 2020-21; one captured the Players; one is the reigning Olympic gold medalist; and a sixth recently won the season’s final two events, including the FedEx Cup.

Harrington, much like his European side, embraces the underdog role. Relishes it, truthfully. Their slingshot is forever loaded to fell the mighty giant. And now this team will be led by a thoughtful, numbers-crunching captain who has thrived as the longshot.

“If you look at their team, and the home advantage, and the setup of the golf course (which the home team controls), and the home crowd … we are the underdogs; I’m sure any bookie will tell you that,” Harrington said. “We’ll have to dig deep to find ways of challenging the U.S.”

Harrington has competed on six Ryder Cup teams (9-13-3 record) and served as an assistant who went above and beyond in the past three. “He is willing to do whatever it takes,” said Englishman Justin Rose, “and I think that’s what impressed me the most (as a vice captain.)” Harrington pretty much has experienced everything in the biennial matches. In 1999 outside Boston, he stood behind the 18th green at The Country Club believing he’d secured the winning point for Europe after defeating Mark O’Meara in singles. That’s before Justin Leonard was able to fight back from a 4-down deficit to tie Jose Maria Olazabal.

“I had a good five minutes where I thought I was ‘The Man,’ ” Harrington said. “That was taken away very quickly.”

In 2004 at Michigan’s Oakland Hills, he and Colin Montgomerie went out first against the powerhouse tandem of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and set the tone for the entire week with a 2-and-1 victory. Harrington finished 4-1-0.

In 2010, when he was added as a captain’s pick by Montgomerie, he welcomed a role in bringing rookie Ross Fisher along as the pair won two key points together. Europe once “hid” its rookies; today the team realizes they can be a valuable asset. Another lesson learned.

Harrington has played for, and assisted, a handful of captains, and said he will borrow from all. He has had leaders such as Welshman Ian Woosnam and Scotsman Sam Torrance who were quick to put an arm around a player to encourage him.

A captain such as Germany’s Bernhard Langer was considered more of a “schoolteacher-type.” Harrington will blend a few styles, and envisions his approach most likely will align with that of Langer’s.

“I think what I understand – and this is the piece you have to work hardest on – is that not everybody is the same, and they certainly don’t all think the way I think,” Harrington said. “You need to understand what each player needs, and be whatever captain he needs, rather than me being me. One size does not fit all when it comes to this.”

Rory McIlroy and vice captain Padraig Harrington of Europe celebrate during the afternoon foursome matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National on September 28, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Said England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who went 4-1-0 in his first Ryder Cup three years ago in Paris, “Padraig is someone I’ve always enjoyed talking to about golf. He has a very strong mind. I’m looking forward to playing under him, and hopefully playing well for him.”

Some of Harrington’s most nervous moments as a player have come when he represented his country, or represented Europe. He was shaking when hitting his first tee shot at the 1991 Walker Cup near home at Portmarnock, as he was eight years later when he stood over his first 7-iron in the alternate-shot foursomes format at Brookline. Somehow, he finds a way to deliver. He hopes that Whistling Straits will be an extension of this dream-like carpet ride upon which golf has taken him.

“I’m sure I’m going to be nervous,” Harrington said. “I do trust them, but I’ve got to let them go and do their thing. As a player, you have that control. As a captain, you lose a little bit of that, and it’s out there, and yeah … there’s trepidation at that stage. Hopefully we’ll have them in position and they’re ready to go.

“It’s a one-and-done (as captain) at the Ryder Cup. You get one chance, and that’s it.”

And hopefully, for the sake of team sleep, Harrington’s room at the team hotel does not have a simulator.