Harrington returns to happy hunting ground

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON returns to the scene of his maiden US Tour victory with a great deal more expectation on him to defend his title at Florida’s Palm Beach Gardens, today, than he faced 12 months ago.

Seven days ago, Harrington faced nine of the world’s top 10 players, at Doral, but this week he is up against only one - eighth-ranked David Toms - on a Mirasol course that holds brilliant memories.

The 34-year-old Dubliner was nine behind, after an opening 73, a year ago, and still seven adrift, and down in 21st place, with 18 holes to play.

But then came arguably the best round of his life.

Harrington became the first Irish-born winner of a US Tour event after grabbing birdies at 10 of the first 13 holes, and scoring a 63, to catch Vijay Singh and Joe Ogilvie, on 14 under par.

Ogilvie went out at the first extra hole, and, on the next, Singh, who had himself closed with a 64, missed from less than three feet.

Harrington admitted he was thinking about the possibility of a 59 entering the closing stretch.

“I birdied six in a row and I’m thinking ‘I’m 10 under, it’s there, how much more work do you have to do?”’ he said.

“I had not looked at a leaderboard, nothing. I was just thinking about shooting 59. I was intent on playing the last five holes trying to make three more birdies.

“The last thing you want to do is play it safe. I really wanted to go at it the last couple of holes, and, obviously, my bubble was burst when I bogeyed 14.”

Harrington dropped another stroke on the 15th, but a birdie two holes later, got him into the play-off. His 11 birdies in that final round were more than he made on the first three days.

Although Harrington had won the end-of-season unofficial Williams World Challenge in California, in 2002, and had held off Tiger Woods to do so, capturing a US Tour title took his career to another level.

“I decided I would play more over here to try to win an event just to get that monkey off my back,” he stated.

As with last season, Harrington took a long winter break.

This is his fourth event back, and being paired with tournament favourite Toms should help to sharpen him up.

The American Ryder Cup star was runner-up to Woods at the Ford Championship, on Sunday, and, with a win in Hawaii, in January, is third on the current US Tour money list.

All this less than four months after undergoing heart surgery.

Based on the rankings, England’s Luke Donald is the second favourite and the 28-year-old is keen to get his game back up to the level that saw him win the World Challenge in December - with a last-round 64.

February was a decent month with finishes of seventh and 12th, and, then, two wins at the Accenture Match Play.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy returns to action and the field also includes Lee Westwood - fifth in Los Angeles three weeks ago - Ian Poulter, Nick Faldo, Brian Davis and Greg Owen.