Pádraig and G-Mac give lesson in fighting spirit
In the end, they had to settle for bogey and par, respectively, and Webb Simpson duly became the fifth surprise champion in five championships at the quirky San Francisco lay-out.
However, a final round 68 proved that Harrington, contrary to what many believed, is far from a spent force and that McDowell has the kind of game and mental fortitude to challenge on a regular basis on the biggest days.
Harrington’s five birdies from the 7th on Sunday put him in with a decent chance as he stood two over par on the 18th tee, although convinced that nothing less than a birdie would suffice for a play-off.
He explained: “I felt it would take one over or level par to win so I needed to make birdie.
“I was struggling with my wedges all week and had a downhill, side hill lie and put it in the left bunker.”
The ball was plugged and he did extremely well to escape with a bogey five for a round of 68, a three over total of 283 and share of 4th.
His second top ten in a major this year saw the 40 year-old Dubliner improve from 94th to 75th in the world rankings.
“I wasn’t far away from winning,” Harrington insisted.
“I made lots of mistakes and mental errors all over the place, I had two four putts on the first day.
“I never found the course difficult all week. It was a joy to play. Maybe that’s why I’m disappointed at being three over par.
“I don’t feel like the course beat me up. I could have found those shots throughout the week and that’s a nice place to be. To know that when I played here in ’98, I maxed out every ounce of talent I had in me to finish 27th. This time around I was in the top five and I could have easily been a number of shots better.
“So it’s nice to feel comfortable in those sort of situations.”
Harrington will ship criticism for taking on the savagely difficult left pin position at the 18th when a shot to the middle of the green would have left him with a putt for a play-off. But he went in search of a little more and paid the price for a poor shot.
McDowell left himself with a 25 footer for a birdie to tie Simpson.
It was never on line and true to form he honestly accepted that he didn’t drive the ball as well as he needed to in a round of 73.
“There’s a mixture of emotions inside me right now — disappointment, deflation, pride,” said McDowell (who earned €695,916) jumps 10 spots to 11th in the world rankings and has more or less clinched his Ryder Cup team place.
“But mostly frustration because I only hit three fairways today. You’re not supposed to do that.”
Harrington and McDowell both insisted that they “left some shots out there”.
However, in the final analysis, both did themselves and Ireland proud.
Harrington’s recovery from an opening day 74 and eventual share of fourth may also serve as a lesson for Rory McIlroy who missed the eight over par cut by two shots withoutever giving the impression he was fighting hard to stay in the championship.
Slumped shoulders and hangdog expressions are certainly not part of the make-up of champions.
Harrington (still a lowly 25th and 23rd respectively in the European and World Ryder Cup points lists) remains in the United States this week for the Travellers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.
Irish interest in the BMW International in Cologne is represented by Michael Hoey, Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Paul McGinley, Simon Thornton and Damien McGrane.
