3x major champ shares observation on ‘star golfers’, Tiger Woods’ ex-coach approves

Three-time Major winner Pádraig Harrington has shared his take on the struggles of golfers in their professional journeys. While replying to a fan on X (formerly Twitter), he reflected on "star players" and how their performance is impacted over time.

The fan highlighted how "star players" such as Jordan Spieth, Max Homa, and Rickie Fowler have struggled with their game lately, saying that golf is hard. In response, Harrington shared his opinion, writing:

"The vast majority of golfers, not just “stars”, get an 18-month, two-season run where they peak. Unfortunately, after that run, they don’t return to their pre-peak level. This is definitely happening much earlier in careers in recent years. You can find outliers like a Langer but not many."

Tiger Woods' ex-coach Hank Haney approved the take and reshared Harrington's comment:

"Great observation, many factors cause it"

Pádraig Harrington, who has been playing golf at a professional level since 1995, has over 40 wins including six tournaments on the PGA Tour and 15 on the European Tour. He has won three Major events in his career, the 2008 PGA Championship and The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions.

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Multiple Major-winner Pádraig Harrington shares his take on full-size field events

On March 16, Monday Q Golf shared a post on its X account about the full-size PGA Tour events, maintaining that it brings different players with their own stories on the greens.

In response to the comment, Pádraig Harrington shared his opinion about the full-field events. He wrote:

"For TV and tournament sponsors the best way to get the star players to turn up, be there on the weekend and contend, is to reduce the size of the field. LIV is an example of this. For the record I prefer as a fan the meritocracy of full fields and the stories that they lead too.

Unfortunately you need to be into your golf to be aware of these stories. The casual viewer as the TV producers know are drawn to tune in by the star players."

Notably, the PGA Tour regular events usually have a full-size field, but the series has also introduced limited-field signature events. Last week, the Tour players competed at the unofficial 'fifth Major', The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, where Rory McIlroy emerged victorious in the game.

Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington has only played in one event on the PGA Tour in 2025, the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. However, he struggled with his game and missed the cut after two rounds of 68 and 75.