Harrington wins Grand Slam title by one shot

Updated October 25, 2012 09:21:05

Triple major winner Padraig Harrington held off a last-day charge by US Open champion Webb Simpson to win the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda by one shot.

Irishman Harrington, a late addition to the elite four-man field, fired a 4-under-par 67 at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton for a 9-under total of 133 in the 36-hole event.

Two strokes ahead of Masters champion Bubba Watson overnight, Harrington mixed five birdies with a lone bogey at the par-four last to fend off American Simpson, who closed with a best-of-the-week 65.

It was the 41-year-old Irishman's first victory since the 2010 Iskandar Johor Open on the Asian Tour, and a case of third time lucky for him at the Grand Slam of Golf.

Harrington had twice been beaten in play-offs at the event - which brings together the winners of the year's four majors - losing to Argentina's Angel Cabrera in 2007 and being edged out by American Jim Furyk in 2008.

"It was unfinished business for me, having lost in two play-offs, so it was nice to come back and win it now," Harrington said after becoming only the second European to win the title, emulating 1991 champion Ian Woosnam of Wales.

"It feels good. I haven't won in a while. Winning is a habit and it's nice to do it.

"I believe I'm playing really good golf. I believe that there's good stuff in my game already, and I believe that there's other stuff that I need to tidy up. I see a lot of good things happening."

Harrington swiftly accepted an invitation to compete at Port Royal after British Open champion Ernie Els withdrew on Saturday because of an ankle injury.

"You've got to come here," he said. "You've got to give yourself the chance. It's a fantastic tournament. Even if I finish fourth here, I'd be quite confident that I made the right decision. It is a bonus to come and win, no doubt about it."

Sealed the title

A stroke in front of the charging Simpson at the turn, Harrington effectively sealed the title with successive four-foot birdie putts at the 11th, 12th and 13th which gave him a commanding four-shot cushion.

"From there on, it was very much trying to batten down the hatches and get to the clubhouse," said the Irishman, who won the British Open in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008.

"Once I holed my (par) putt on 16, I felt it was all over at that stage. It was just a question of getting the last two holes played without too much harm, too much damage being done."

Simpson applauded Harrington's decisive birdie run shortly after the turn.

"He was playing well and he made the putts you've got to make," said the American who won his first major title at the US Open in June.

Left-hander Watson carded a roller-coaster 71 to finish a distant third at 3-under 139, level with fellow American and defending champion Keegan Bradley (67).

Bradley, winner of last year's PGA Championship, gained his spot in the field as the first alternate after Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy pulled out due to a scheduling conflict.

McIlroy, who clinched his second major title by a staggering eight shots at this year's PGA Championship, had already committed to the European Tour event being played this week in China.

Reuters

Tags: sport, golf, bermuda

First posted October 25, 2012 09:21:05

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Harrington takes early lead at Bethpage

Updated August 24, 2012 10:27:19

Padraig Harrington leads the PGA Tour event in Farmingdale, New York after carding a first-round 64 to keep his faint Ryder Cup hopes alive.

Harrington, who was earlier told by European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal that he needed to win this event to have a chance of making his team, responded in superb fashion.

Wielding a red-hot putter, Irishman Harrington covered his final nine holes in a blistering 6-under-par 29 en route to a round of 7-under in the first of the PGA Tour's four lucrative FedEx Cup play-off events.

In pursuit of his first victory on the US circuit since the 2008 PGA Championship, three-times major winner Harrington piled up eight birdies and a lone bogey to finish a stroke in front of Americans Nick Watney and Brian Harman.

Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who ended a four-year title drought on the PGA Tour by winning the rain-delayed Greensboro PGA Tour event on Monday, was among a group of four on 66 while FedEx Cup points leader Woods opened with a 68 and McIlroy a 69.

Harrington, who also has one eye this week on earning a late call-up for the European Ryder Cup team, was delighted with his putting on the challenging, 7,468-yard Bethpage Black layout.

"I've been playing well for quite a while, but this is the best I've putted, the best I've struck my putts, the best I've rolled the ball for a long period of time," the 40-year-old Irishman told reporters after taking only 26 putts.

"We had super conditions today. Bethpage is a big, strong golf course, and we got it on a very calm day, which was in our favour."

Harrington conceded he had learned a valuable lesson about the scoring possibilities at a venue which has staged two US Opens from his American playing partner Troy Matteson, who eagled the fourth hole.

"Wow, an eagle! Imagine making an eagle at a US Open," smiled Harrington.

"If anything, it really helped me because I could see that, 'Hey, this wasn't a US Open, there were birdies to be made.'

"So you have to get out of that mindset because level par isn't winning the tournament this week. It isn't a US Open," added the Irishman, who won at Westchester in 2005 and tied for second at Liberty National in 2009.

Harrington hopes his sizzling form at Bethpage will help him earn one of two wildcard picks by European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal on Monday, though he accepts he is on the outside looking in.

"I'm sure if I went and had a look at the odds, I would be a long-shot to make the team," the Irishman said.

Woods, the only triple winner on the 2012 PGA Tour, expressed mixed views about his round after failing to make the most of soft, receptive conditions on a benign morning.

"I didn't quite hit the ball as well as I would like," said the 14-times major winner who was followed by huge crowds as he launched his title bid in the company of world number one McIlroy and 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson.

"I'm going to do some work this afternoon and work on a couple things that I know I need to shore up for tomorrow. But I'm very pleased with the way I putted. I putted great today."

Woods, who totalled 28 putts, ended the round level with fellow Americans Johnson and four-times major winner Phil Mickelson, British Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa and former world number one Luke Donald of England.

Northern Irishman McIlroy, who clinched his second major title with a stunning eight-shot victory at the PGA Championship earlier this month, was satisfied with his 69, despite losing momentum after the turn.

"It was good," the 23-year-old said after mixing five birdies with three bogeys. "I thought I played really solid, especially starting off, three under through six.

"Got a little quiet around the middle of the round, and my short game let me down a couple of times. It definitely could have been a few shots better, but I'm happy with how I played."

Reuters

Tags: sport, golf, united-states

First posted August 24, 2012 10:23:22

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Harrington, Byrd win Masters Par-3 title

Updated April 05, 2012 09:08:01

Ireland's Padraig Harrington and American Jonathan Byrd shared the title in Thursday's (AEST) rain-shortened Masters Par-3 Contest, both risking the tournament curse with the triumph.

No player has won the Par-3 Contest and captured the Masters in the same year since the short-course event began in 1960, so according to the jinx neither Harrington nor Byrd will not be donning a green jacket on Monday (AEST).

Harrington and Byrd each fired a five-under par 22 in the annual contest on the eve of the year's first major tournament, staged on a special nine-hole layout adjacent to the famed Masters course.

Australian Adam Scott was one stroke adrift with Masters debutante Webb Simpson on four-under as well through eight holes and Jerry Pate, a past Par-3 champion, at four-under after five holes when play was halted.

Harrington became the first three-time Par-3 winner, although he shared the 2003 title with American David Toms in the only other rain-halted Par-3 event and won a play-off for the 2004 title.

"The scoring was on," Harrington said. "Actually pretty average shots. I just played pretty nicely for nine holes."

Harrington's victory pushed him ahead of three other two-time Par-3 winners - Sam Snead, Japan's Isao Aoki and Scotsman Sandy Lyle.

Byrd birdied the last three holes to match Harrington just before the storm arrived to put himself on the jinxed list with the Irishman.

"I like making putts, whatever they are for," Byrd said.

Rain struck to halt the easy-going competition on an Augusta National layout that was lashed by 3.55 centimetres of precipitation during an early morning storm.

In a relaxed atmosphere, current stars and elder legends laughed and joked with each other and spectators, some even having family members serve as caddies and take some shots for them.

The early end came with many players yet to finish, including the group of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. The legendary threesome will serve as honorary starters on Friday morning (AEST) when the tournament begins.

World number one Luke Donald of England, who won last year's Par-3 Contest, opted not to defend his crown after making an effort to break the Masters jinx last year and settling for a share of fourth in his bid for a first major title.

"Last year I actually had a very focused goal of trying to win both of them, and it was something that I wanted to do, something that was different, to try and defy convention I suppose," Donald said.

"And I almost did it. I had a good chance at winning both. But this year I'm just going to concentrate on the main one."

AFP

Tags: sport, golf, united-states

First posted April 05, 2012 08:59:48

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Harrington fires career-low 61

Updated March 16, 2012 14:21:16

Irishman Padraig Harrington fired a 10-under par 61, the lowest score of his career, to seize a three-shot lead on Friday (AEDT) in the first round of the US PGA Tour event in Florida.

Harrington's bogey-free round set a course record on the Copperhead layout at Innisbrook and included a 75-foot putt for birdie at the par-3 17th hole, the longest putt he has made in a US PGA event.

"I would like to tell you it was funneling right up the green and couldn't go anywhere else, but certainly the last 15 feet it was right in the middle of the hole," Harrington said.

"That's a bonus, obviously."

Australian Geoff Ogilvy had a ringside seat to Harrington's record-setting round, playing in the same group.

"The only really, completely unreasonable birdie was on the 17th," he said.

"There was never any stress."

Harrington was in the clubhouse early, and no one got closer the rest of the day apart from Will Claxton, who was second after a 7-under 64 that included five birdies and an eagle at the par-five 14th.

Australian John Senden was among a group of seven players sharing third place on 66.

Senden, whose round included seven birdies with two bogeys, was joined on 5-under by Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Jason Dufner, William McGirt and Jason Bohn.

Both Dufner and McGirt played without a bogey.

Ten players were tied on 4-under 67, a group that included England's Justin Rose and Luke Donald, as well as former British Open champion Stewart Cink and George McNeill - winner in Puerto Rico last week.

Harrington's previous low round had been a 62, fired three times, most recently at the 2009 Portugal Masters.

The previous course record was also a 62, fired by Jeff Sluman in 2004 and matched by fellow American Mark Calcavecchia in 2007.

"I'm very comfortable where my game is at," Harrington said.

"I've made a lot of good improvements and I feel like things are ready to happen. Obviously today it showed the potential. Today is a peak.

"We will wait and see what happens over the next number of weeks. I'm trying to stay patient. I know my game is good. One of the hardest things is to wait with confidence."

He opened with back-to-back birdies, birdied the par-3 fourth and the par-4 seventh, then had back-to-back birdies to close the front nine and begin the back side, adding yet another at the par-4 12th.

Harrington, who has not won any event since the 2010 Johor Open on the Asian Tour, closed his round with three birdies, the last a 15-footer at the par-4 18th.

Harrington's last US tour triumph came at the 2008 PGA Championship.

His other major triumphs came at the 2007 and 2008 British Opens.

AFP

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First posted March 16, 2012 14:04:45

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Dufner grabs lead from Harrington

Updated March 17, 2012 12:24:56

American journeyman Jason Dufner held a two-shot lead following the second round of the PGA Tour event in Florida on Saturday (AEDT) after equalling the low round of the day with a flawless five-under-par 66.

Dufner, who lost last year's PGA Championship in a playoff to rookie Keegan Bradley, birdied three of his first five holes en route to a 10-under total of 132 at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington (73), who was the overnight leader after setting the course record with a 61 on Thursday, was two shots back after mixing three bogeys with a birdie.

The Dubliner was tied in second place with American William McGirt (68), while England's Luke Donald, the world number two, is one of five players sitting three shots off the pace.

Donald can reclaim his spot at the top of the world rankings from Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy with a win this week.

Spain's Sergio Garcia (68) is also well-placed for a weekend push sitting just four shots back of Dufner along with Australian John Senden (70) and Americans Jim Furyk (70) and Kenny Perry (70).

For Dufner, who finally broke through on the PGA Tour last year, his second consecutive round of 66 indicates he could be hitting peak form just in time for the first major of the year at Augusta National next month.

But the 34-year-old Clevelander, who has just two wins on the Nationwide Tour to his name, will be aiming on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

"It's definitely a goal, I definitely felt like last year after some close calls I was ready to make that jump and start winning some tournaments," said Dufner, who has gone bogey-free in his opening two rounds.

"It could be a great stepping stone and give me some more confidence going forward."

Three-times major winner Harrington, searching for his top form after 18 difficult months sent him plummeting to 90th in the world rankings, said he paid the price for a conservative approach after a wonderful opening round.

"I'm happy with my game but when you shot a good score, it's hard to match the next day," said Harrington.

"When you're leading the tournament, it's hard not to be a little bit cautious and I think at times I was on the greens. I struggled to get the ball up to the hole a lot today."

Among those missing the cut, which was set at one-under 141, were Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, Colombian Camilo Villegas and Masters champion South African Charl Schwartzel, who followed up a five-over 76 on Thursday with a two-over 73 on Friday.

Reuters

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First posted March 17, 2012 12:24:56

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Harrington to miss PGA Championship

Posted May 20, 2011 07:16:00

Padraig Harrington will miss next week's PGA Championship at Wentworth after aggravating a knee injury, the three-times major champion said on Thursday.

The Irishman originally hurt his knee during the Wells Fargo tournament earlier this month and the problem flared up again at last week's Players Championship in Florida.

"After returning home I continued to have physio on what was originally a hamstring tear, which caused the popliteus muscle to become inflamed," Harrington, who has slumped to 43 in the world rankings, said on his website.

"This resulted in the inability to stabilise my knee, causing acute pain.

"As it hasn't improved significantly, and the recommended course of action is a couple of weeks rest, reluctantly, I am forced to withdraw from next week's PGA Championship."

The PGA Championship, seen as the European Tour's flagship event, will feature six of the world's current top 10 players.

- Reuters

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