Padraig Harrington believes he will have plenty more chances to win on the European Tour after securing a second-place finish at the D+D Real Czech Masters.
The Ryder Cup Vice Captain turns 47 at the end of the month but proved he can more than mix it with the young guns as he and Andrea Pavan - 17 years his junior - engaged in an enthralling battle at Albatross Golf Resort before the Italian prevailed by two shots.
Harrington has 15 European Tour wins to his name including three Major Championships and with the latest having come as recently as 2016, he is confident there is plenty of juice left in the tank.
“I don’t feel I have an issue playing against these younger guys,” he said. “I feel I can certainly keep up with them and I have some good things in my own game. Even from a week like this, you learn more when you get in contention.
“I’m seeing things about my game that I can improve and work on. I’m in a nice place, I just have to keep doing the good stuff and hopefully there’ll be more tournaments like this ahead.”
The Irishman's 20 under par total has only been beaten by Pavan in tournament history and Harrington got to 21 under at one point before a bogey on the 15th.
He had led by three at the turn before Pavan came home in 31, and the two-time Open champion was full of praise for the 29 year old.
“It was a good contest, no doubt about it,” he said. “I obviously don’t feel like I lost it, Andrea won it for sure. He played great coming home and holed the decisive putts. I get my fair share of wins but it wasn’t my day today.
“To shoot 20 under par on any golf course, you’ve got to put some numbers together so I’m happy with that, Andrea just finished really well. He played lovely golf all day to be honest and made those birdies. It’s a pity but I’ll settle for this most weeks.
“I’ll give myself plenty of chances to win and I know it’s a numbers game, some weeks it will be my turn for the putts to drop and the right shots at the right time.”
