Carnival 8 ends Harrington dream – PGA Championship
CHASKA, Minn. – What a way for a dream to die. Executed by a weekend hacker, or the equivalent thereof, at a carnival of a hole.
Padraig Harrington, aiming to repeat as the PGA Champion, was chasing Tiger Woods, just two behind to start the final round. And then he came to the par-3 8th, a not intimidating 180 yards, with water in front and wrapping around the right side, and a bunker and heavy round on the left. And there he came apart and made a killer 8. Harrington, who said he wouldn’t back off and instead would go right after Woods, went on to shoot 78, his worst score in 11 PGAs, and tie for 10th at even-par 288.
Post-mortem: He watered his tee shot, dropped, flew the green with his reload into the left rough, hit a brutal chip that flew the green again the other way and went back into the water on the other side, dropped again, then hit a gunshy flop shot that didn’t reach the green, and finally chipped on, 5 feet short, and holed the putt for a killer 8.
“I had been changing my chipping action a little,” said Harrington, “and I probably was more into what I was doing rather than trying to get the ball up-and-down, and you know, I hit a bad shot. Such is life. Some days they don’t come off, some days they do.”
(No. 8 played as the seventh hardest hole for the PGA, at an average of 3.229, and inflicted four scores of seven or more, and none more painful or decisive than Harrington’s 8.)
YANG SNIPPETS -- Voted Korean PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1997. Was a two-stroke winner over Tiger Woods at the 2007 HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Finished 28th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 2007. Was one of three South Korean-born players to win on the European Tour, joining K.J. Choi and Charlie Wi.
LANDMARK FOR PHIL – Not that he’ll refer to it as such, but Phil Mickelson had his worst PGA in 17 playings, shooting 74-74-76-76 – 300 12 over par. His closing 76 Sunday had to be particularly galling. He’d started with an eagle at the par-4 No. 1, holing a 5-iron second from 205 yards. “It was fun to see,” Mickelson said. But maybe his only fun for the week. He had a double bogey in the first and second rounds, and then a double and triple in the fourth.
“The last two weeks have been frustrating,” said Mickelson, having played the Bridgestone and the PGA in succession after sitting out since mid-June to be with his wife for her breast cancer surgery. And he’d thought he was making progress. What went wrong? “It’s hard to say,” Mickelson said. “It’s going to take a little more than overnight. But at least I feel like I have a little bit better direction.”
MAJOR UPS AND DOWNS -- The winners of the other three majors had varying degrees of success – or failure, as the case may be – across Hazeltine’s 7,674 yards.
--Masters champ Angel Cabrera, of Argentina had a most unmasterful showing, shooting 76-70-76-76 for a 10-over 298 total, tying for 63rd.
--U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover shot 71-70-71-74 – 286, solo fifth.
--British Open champ Stewart Cink , 73-73-72-81 – 299, tied for 67th.
POST-CUT SYNDROME? – Some players say making the cut is the toughest thing, and then when you do, there sometimes is a letdown. Or post-cut syndrome. That seems to have been the case with Greg Bisconti and Grant Sturgeon, the only two club pros to make the cut. Bisconti, who missed the cut in his two previous PGAs, opened with 75-72, then closed with 78-76, for a 13-over 301 total. Sturgeon, playing in his first PGA, started 73-71, and finished 80-79, at 15-over 303. Even so, it was a good time had by all.
“This is the best week of golf I’ve ever had,” said Sturgeon, adding that the last two rounds were disappointing, but “…just to put myself in position to have some success on the weekend was awesome.” And comparing Hazeltine’s to Oakmont’s notorious greens: “In no way comparable. Oakmont’s greens are a good three to five feet faster than these. You can get fast putts out here, but nothing that will scare you.” Said Bisconti: “This was a lot easier than the previous two. In [them], I was just nervous as heck, and this one, I felt a lot more in control and present, so to speak. But made the cut in the PGA and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
POSSIBLE, BUT – England’s Lee Westwood , on his chances after being the clubhouse leader at 3-under: “Well, 95 percent of me says no, but there’s that five percent that's saying that stranger things have happened in the closing holes of the majors.”
ODDS AND ENDS – Japanese whiz Ryo Ishikawa, for a 17-year-old, had a solid PGA debut, closing with a 72-296, 8 over, and tying for 57th … Graeme McDowell, on tying for 10th: “I’m very happy. I didn’t go to the first tee on Thursday feeling particularly good about my game.”
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