Harrington Takes Back-to-Back Majors with PGA Victory

Before he won last year’s Open Championship, Padraig Harrington was considered Europe’s bridesmaid with 24 career second place finishes and a game that was certainly sufficient to earn him a living but wasn’t likely to give him anything but a fleeting mention in golf’s history books.Now, instead of being nearly the man, he is just “the man.” Actually, he was the man after repeating that 2007 Open Championship victory at Royal Birkdale last month, when he shot an inward 32 on Sunday in a tough wind to win by four. After adding a Wanamaker Trophy to his brace of Claret Jugs, the Irishman is looking good for Player of the Year honors and pretty much single-handedly (well, Kenny Perry has helped) drowned out the hysteria surrounding Tiger Woods’s continued absence.Best player in the world though he is, Woods would have had trouble outscoring Harrington at Birkdale as he’s unproven in anything stronger than a stiffish breeze. And he would have had to be at his best again this weekend to stop the Harrington juggernaut, which a poor drive into a bunker at the 72nd hole and an even poorer lay-up out of the sand into the rough couldn’t stop.It hasn’t exactly happened overnight. All the lessons he learned from those runners-up places and a decade of being Europe’s hardest-working golfer have at last produced a player for whom winning majors appears to have become, if not effortless exactly, then relatively uncomplicated. The sweat and tension of yesterday afternoon might suggest otherwise, of course, but Harrington appears close to unlocking Woods’s secret of knowing exactly what is required and when. He required another inward 32 at Oakland Hills and, even though he bogeyed the 14th hole after a pushed 5-foot par putt, that’s exactly what he accomplished with a brilliant birdie two at the wicked 17th hole and a gutsy up and down from 100 yards at the 18th following those two errant shots to start the hole. No, he hasn’t won a major with a listless 71 or 72 when all he had to do was hit the middle of the greens and two-putt to fend off all his close challengers, but he’s making a habit of playing his best and making the necessary birdies when they’re needed.Sergio Garcia, in contrast, is still on the outside looking in, seemingly unable to produce his best shots at the right moment and certainly not in Woods’s, or Harrington’s, class when it comes to holing deal-clinching putts. Sure, the Spaniard hit some superb iron shots on Oakland Hills’ back nine, most notably at the 15th, where his punchy 6-iron hit the bottom of the flagstick, and the 17th, where he putt his tee shot inside Harrington’s. But he also made a costly error at the 16th, where his approach shot found the water. He now has 14 top-10 finishes at major championships and, though still only 28 with 80 or more chances ahead of him to win one of the darned things, probably needs to win one soon to maintain his sanity.Apart from how and when to make those all-important putts, Garcia will hopefully take another lesson away with him: not to accept interview requests for at least an hour or two following defeat. We all remember his unfortunate reaction to the playoff loss against Harrington at Carnoustie last year when he suggested, in not so many words, that malevolent spirits were working against him. And even though he showed a good deal more restraint during a brief Q&A with CBS shortly after posting a five at 18 to finish two behind Harrington yesterday, he clearly still harbors some of the victim’s mentality. You get the impression one day his immense talent will carry him to a 10-shot victory at a major, even with Woods in the field, and his demons won’t be able to bring him down. But the tension-packed, last-hole, one-shot victory probably isn’t going to happen until he stops feeling so hard done by and starts picturing a more favorable outcome.The weather appeared not to be in the tournament’s favor, with heavy rain on Saturday causing a 36-hole Sunday for six players. But actually the softened fairways and greens did much to bring the course back from the brink. One wonders why the PGA of America seeks to set up its venues so similarly to those of the USGA, with tall, thick rough; hard, fast greens and narrow fairways, as the game truly needs only one U.S. Open-style tournament. With just one player under par at the halfway stage, a weekend of grinding out pars appeared to be on the menu, but the rain allowed the 73 remaining players to shoot at the flag. Harrington took full advantage firing two 66s. Thick rough, narrow fairways, and concrete greens are fine, just not all at the same time. If they’re going to grow rough like that, the PGA should at least soften the greens or widen the fairways.One supposes the weekend’s results make Europe an even bigger favorite for the Ryder Cup at Valhalla in six weeks’ time. That said, they failed to win a major prior to their huge 2004 and 2006 victories, so who knows what having a three-time major winner on their team this time will mean?tonydear71@comcast.net

Harrington Takes Back-to-Back Majors with PGA Victory

Harrington Takes Back-to-Back Majors with PGA Victory

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