PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- As Padraig Harrington stood on the 17th tee in his Monday playoff at The Honda Classic against Daniel Berger, a nearby cart was making noise as it cleared out some trash cans. Then some fans near the green decided to move.



Those were two distractions he didn't need, especially since less than an hour earlier in regulation, his tee shot at 17 had found the water, costing him the lead and forcing him to scramble just to make the playoff.



Harrington kept backing away from his shot. At age 43 and not having won a PGA TOUR event in nearly 2,400 days, he was not about to be rushed.



As it turned out, he would not be denied either.



Harrington's tee shot finished inside 5 feet of the cup. When Berger -- a 21-year-old rookie making just his 12th TOUR start -- followed with a tee shot that landed in the water, Harrington's path to his first TOUR win since the 2008 PGA Championship was clear.



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"I was never going to hit that shot until I was clear in my head, especially after messing it up in real time," Harrington said.



The difference in those two shots brought into focus the 43-year-old's long climb back into the winner's circle. After winning his third major in 2008, Harrington changed his swing, battled the putting yips, dealt with the mental challenges of falling from the top, and yet kept grinding away.



That first tee shot at 17 on Monday -- Harrington had a one-shot lead over Berger, who was done early after shooting a 64 -- was simple to explain. "If you ever want to see a lapse in the mental side, my routine got a little bit out of skew," Harrington said of the shot that resulted in a double bogey and forced him to make a 15-footer for birdie at the 18th to force a playoff



But an hour later, faced with the same shot and the tournament again on the line, Harrington delivered this time.



"Going first, I just couldn't afford to bail out and leave the door open," he said. "I knew I had to hit the shot. It was classic match play. You've got to hit the shot and put the pressure on him."



Now the pressure is off on Harrington. He doesn't have to worry about sponsor's invites for the next few years. He can plan a trip to the Masters next month. And he's got the monkey off his back.



His return trip to the winner's circle is complete.