Padraig Harrington tees off this afternoon at the 2022 Masters in for the first time in seven years as the Ryder Cup captain looks to upset odds in Augusta, Georgia.
It’s the 50-year-old’s fifteenth outing in total in the tournament held annually at the prestigious Augusta National Golf Course in the Southern US state.
Harrington is set to go out around 1.40pm Irish time alongside American Austin Greaser, an amateur competing in his first professional event, and Canadian Mike Weir.
It’s one of the two major tournaments Rathfarnham man Harrington hasn’t added to his collection as he’s second only to Rory McIlroy in the pantheon of Irish golf.
He won the Open in 2007, and then went on to win it again in 2008 along with the PGA.
At his best, following the stunning win over Sergio Garcia in the PGA play-off, Harrington was ranked as third in the world behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Harrington, who attended Coláiste Éanna in Rathfarnham alongside fellow Ryder Cup winner Paul McGinley, saw his appearances at majors tail off in recent years.
His last appearance at the US Open was in 2013, though he retains a permanent card for the British Open and PGA as a former winner.
What is the Masters?
The Masters is one of the four major golf championships, and one of three in the United States, which is held in the first complete week of April each year.
It’s the smallest field of all the major tournaments due to being invitational rather than a qualifying event, so just 91 players will take part on Thursday.
18 former winners of the tournament will take part, including current title holder Hidetoshi Mastuyama of Japan.
Previously, all competitors within ten strokes of the leader were entitled to stay on for the last two rounds, but this rule was abolished in 2020.
Where is the Augusta National Golf Club?
The Masters is the only one of the four majors that is held on the same course every year, having been founded at the Augusta National Golf Club in 1934.
Augusta National famously declined to admit women as members from its foundation in 1932 until it finally relented in 2012.
The first female members to be admitted were former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and investor Darla Moore.
Rice’s admission was doubly significant as the club had also enforced a strict policy of segregation before admitting its first African-American member in 1990.
Who are the Irish involved?
As well as Harrington, compatriots Shane Lowry, a former Open winner, and four-time major-winner Rory McIlroy will take part.
Monaghan’s Séamus Power will also take part in his first ever major tournament, having rocketed up the rankings over the past 12 months.
Power won the Barbasol Championship, his first PGA tour win, last July on the sixth hole of a play-off with JT Poston to guarantee his place.
What are Harrington’s odds?
The odds don’t look very good for the Rathfarnham woodsman, who is ranked by the bookies at 200/1 to finish in the top ten. In other words, they don’t expect him to get close.
McIlroy, who famously had a final day meltdown in 2011, blowing a four-shot lead that would have made him the tournament’s youngest-ever champion, is at 16/1.
Lowry is priced as a reasonable at 25/1, while Power is poised at a respectable 80/1 in his first shot at golf’s biggest prize.
Harrington is available at 11/10 to at least make the cut on Friday evening, Power 2/5, Lowry 2/9 and McIlroy 1/7.
Read more: Conor McGregor confirms UFC return plans after court appearance
Read more: Leinster star Dan Leavy announces shock retirement from rugby
