Padraig Harrington hopes to inspire Tiger Woods

If Tiger Woods were to listen to just one of the nearly countless experts kibitzing about what ails him, perhaps Padraig Harrington might be that confidant.

The 43-year-old Dubliner, after all, has scaled the heights only to plummet to the abyss with a game, that -- like Woods’ glutes at Torrey Pines -- misfired so horribly after he won the 2008 PGA Championship that last week’s Honda Classic was his first professional victory since then.

Certainly, Harrington, the surprise playoff winner over Daniel Berger at PGA National, has not experienced the same precipitous fall from grace as Woods. But the guy renowned as an inveterate tinkerer with his tools and who was the top European golfer and fourth in the world after his PGA triumph but bottomed out at No. 265 last year can definitely relate to the former world No. 1 when it comes to the yips.

Opinions differ about whether Woods -- 75th in the world, his lowest ranking since his rookie season -- actually suffers from, as Harrington put it to Brian Keogh during the depths of his struggles in 2014, holding “an electric eel” in his hand. Those who believe that’s precisely what’s wrong with Woods, other than his physical health, call his syndrome the chipping yips and wonder if Tiger will ever regain a semblance of the form with which he won 14 grand slam events.

Harrington believes he can and he’s willing, as a peer, to serve as an inspiration for Woods, who turned 39 in December and is on an indefinite break from competition after a hideous start to his 2015 season.

“When you see contemporaries performing, it makes it all the more plausible for you,” Harrington told Keogh this week about watching 46-year-old Retief Goosen contend at the Northern Trust Open last month. “You are never sure what others are thinking and I was a contemporary of Tiger in that we started our careers around the same time. So he could be looking at me thinking, ‘Paddy had a slump and he’s come back.’”

Harrington acknowledged that he had a long way to go before the rest of the world considered him “back,” but that Woods had far less to overcome to return to the winner’s circle.

“He’s got so much ability he doesn’t need to be back where he was in order to be back winning, and winning majors. He dominated at one stage. He doesn’t need to get back to that level. He’s got plenty of game and talent to win with what used to be his B game,” Harrington said.

Not that it would be simple or straightforward, and those who suggest they have quick fixes are mistaken.

“You can give all the advice but at the end of the day, something has to click inside them and they have to understand and believe it,” noted Harrington. “And that can be a long and a hard process.”

Harrington’s years-long recovery from the panic that would overtake him as he stood over a putt is a case in point. A score of different flat sticks and grips did not help.

Consultations with famed yips sufferer Bernhard Langer at the 2012 Masters, after meetings with sports psychologist Bob Rotella, eventually convinced Harrington that constant technical tweaks and fine-tuning were not answers and that he had to change his attitude and approach to how he negotiated the greens.

For sure, one win in nearly seven years does not spell victory over the yips, and Harrington continues to labor with his own concerns. But he believes that Woods could benefit from his experiences more than those of the Rory McIlroys and Patrick Reeds of the golf world.

“If he is continually seeing young kids up there, it is easy to get into the mindset of thinking, maybe it is easier for them,” said Harrington, up to 82nd in the world rankings after the Honda. “I can see him back, but it’s not easy.”