With a tied 13th place at the PGA Championship his best 2016 finish heading into this week, few predicted that 80/1 shot Padraig Harrington would win the Portugal Masters.

After an illustrious career that has seen the Dubliner win three majors and win tournaments across three decades, 45-year-old Harrington could be excused for fading into semi-retirement and focusing on the Ryder Cup captaincy.

When asked about his interest in the 2018 Ryder Cup a few weeks ago, his stance was firm. “I want to play. That’s where I stand.” This week he showed that is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Few possess a mind blessed with the positivity of Harrington and he is natural competitor. One of the more interesting revelations of his talk at Roganstown alongside Bob Rotella in July this year was that he said he played off the ladies tees regularly at home in practice.

It sounds ridiculous for a pro golfer to play there but there was method to Harrington’s madness. Instead of looking to break 70 from over 7000 yards, Harrington was looking to break 60 from 5000 yards. The psychology of looking for birdie after birdie is essential on Tour and was evident this week.

Harrington had to shoot 23 under to win in Portugal, his lowest winning score on the European Tour, and average of just over 65 per round. Tour golf has essentially become ‘pass or be passed’ over the past number of years on Tour, with a recent study of the PGA Tour last season showing that a player shooting level par in every round would not keep his card.

Few players understand that better than Harrington and he looked to play aggressive from the start, knowing that a fantastic short game could rescue him if he hit a bad approach shot.

Harrington spoke about having a positive change of attitude at the start of this week. He cited Dave Alred’s book for inspiration, ‘Pressure Principle, Handle Stress, Harness Energy and Perform When It Counts.’

With a final round 65 securing his 15^th European Tour victory, the Irishman certainly performed when it mattered once again.