Shots at the 19th hole
For the second Sunday night this year, he reckons he kept the pubs open late as patrons stayed on to see if he could capture his second PGA Tour success of the year. And he didn’t disappoint, holing a massive 65-foot putt on the final green for an eagle and a one-shot victory over America’s Jim Furyk.
“It was all shown on Sky Sports in Ireland,” he quipped to the American media. “There’s going to be a lot of cheering, a few drinks will be put away in the pubs so they owe me again for keeping them in business.”
It wasn’t just the pint drinkers back home who revelled in this remarkable triumph. So, too, did the New Yorkers who regaled him with ‘ole, ole, ole’ and who supported him unashamedly through the four days of the Barclays Westchester Classic.
Rarely has a big tournament finished in such a sensational manner and adding to Padraig’s sense of delight was that his seriously ill father, Paddy, was watching on television in St James’s Hospital while his wife Caroline, son Patrick and parents-in-law Dermot and Mary Gregan were members of the gallery surrounding the 18th green.
“To hole a putt on the last green and actually to watch it going in a good five seconds before it dropped - it was right in the middle of the hole - is something I didn’t experience before in winning a tournament”, he glowed. “Normally, you have a short putt or two to win or whatever. But the excitement of following that putt down the green and seeing it break towards the hole was very special.”
Furyk, one of the more unassuming and likeable American golfers, looked on in a state of shock and later commented: “I opened the door for Padraig at the 16th and by missing a short one on 17, so we were level playing the last. He hit a good drive. I did not. When he put his second on the left side of the green, I realised how difficult that putt was because if it got past the hole, it wouldn’t take much for it to leak down to the fringe. I prepared for him to two putt and knew I’d have to make mine to tie. He just hit a fabulous putt.
“It would not have gone too far past, maybe two or three feet, and it went right in the centre. I tipped my hat to him. What else could I do? It was a wonderful way to finish the tournament. Padraig hung in tough. He had a lot going bad for him early on. But he hung in there, eagling 9, and then went kind of south again at 11 and 12. But he hung in again and got some birdies coming in. When that putt got close, I knew it was going in. There was probably a four letter word in my thoughts somewhere.”
This was Harrington’s second victory of the year in the States coming on top of the Honda Classic in Florida in March. At that point, he was sixth in the world rankings but after a poor spell drifted out to 11th. However, he is now back to 8th and 9th on the US Tour order of merit with more than $US2.8m to his credit and with his confidence sky high going into this week’s Smurfit European Open at The K-Club and the Open Championship at St Andrews on July 14-17.
Three behind Furyk with five holes to play, Harrington emphasised his fighting qualities even though he felt he might have been out of contention after a second successive bogey at the 12th.
“I felt then that I needed to go for the shots”, he explained. “I hit one really close on 14 and went for the pin at 16. I cut it in the wind and all of a sudden it looks like my tournament is over. That’s where I got the first big break of the day. I hit a great chip, holed the putt and Jim did not and where I thought I was going further behind, I’m now in with a real chance of winning. It was something I didn’t expect.
“It put me in a great frame of mind over the last two holes. I felt another birdie would suffice to get into a play-off until Jim slipped up on 17. The 18th was slightly in my favour, being a par 5, and slightly into the wind. I knew I was going to have a little bit of an advantage off the tee. I hit a big drive and a nice three iron and thought it would be further up the green. I kept telling myself I had a similar putt to win the Irish PGA two years ago at St Margarets and I managed to roll it stone dead. It was very similar, left to right, with two different breaks.
“That was a good positive image for me. I just stood there and thought, you could analyse a putt like this all day, but you’ve got to go with what it feels like and trust that you’ve got the feeling right because if you start trying to think about it, you could hit it fifteen feet by or even let it come off the tier. I hit the putt pure and it looked great once it rolled over that tier. It looked really good for pace and really good for line. I was trying to two putt, to get it down there close.
“I must admit I took a foot off my original break to give myself a chance of holing it. I’d say I hit it ten feet left of the hole. It was left to right up the tier and then it came over the tier about a foot right of the hole and came back a foot. For the last 18 inches, it was dead centre. I had my hands in the air as it was going into the hole. I hadn’t experienced that before and it was very nice.”
The reaction of a New York crowd that has taken Padraig Harrington very much to their hearts was ecstatic - even if in the process he was beating a popular American pro in the process. He admitted to being “really surprised and thrilled at the great cheer I got on the first tee.”
In contrast, though, Padraig says he was in a different frame of mind on the final green. “I probably didn’t hear anything after I holed my putt because I was in a land of my own at that stage. I really, really like playing golf in New York. The New York fans are loud and I love playing golf that way. There’s a buzz around the golf course. They appreciate the golf and they cheer and that makes it exciting. It certainly adds to the tournament for me. You know, the US Open at Bethpage Black, there was no tournament like it ever.”
As for his ailing dad back in Dublin, Padraig commented: “He’s going to be thrilled. It’s strange, two days after my last win, we found out his cancer had come back. I’ve been away for three weeks and I’m looking forward to getting home to see him. I’m sure he’s glad he hung around this long.”
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