Pádraig again fails to turn on style

FOR Pádraig Harrington, Oak Hill and the US PGA was another week of unrealised expectation.

After a run of barren tournaments, he turned up refreshed and eager in New York, happy to compete knowing that his wife, Caroline, was unlikely to give birth for another week or more, but he still failed to perform to the required level.

He never gives up, of course, a point well made in yesterday’s final round which he completed in eight straight pars, not bad at all on such a difficult layout, for a 73 and a ten over par total of 290 and a share of 33rd spot.

“I didn’t play very well all week”, he accepted. My putting was up and down and that dictates the scores.”

Harrington left Rochester for Akron, Ohio, last night to prepare for the WGC NEC World Championship starting there on Thursday although developments with Caroline will dictate whether he actually plays there or not.

"It's a new week, whether I play or not, and the important thing is that all is well at home", he said. "Whatever about results, I can tell you I'm happier than I've ever been with my swing.”

After a hesitant start over the opening five holes on Saturday, Harrington’s weekend brightened appreciably as his long game found a new level of consistency that coincided with far greater reassurance with the putter.

A birdie at the 9th saw him to the turn in even par and started back with a hat-trick of threes, two of them birdies and even a bogey at the 17th couldn’t prevent him from getting below 70 for the first time and up to a share of 30th spot. He was partnered yesterday by the young and highly rated Englishman Luke Donald who got away with a miraculous par at his first hole having carved his drive forty yards right of the fairway.

However, that almost paled in comparison with the manner in which Harrington escaped with a bogey six at the 4th. His drive could best be described as a high slice, the kind most club golfers are more than a little familiar with, and ended up right against the boundary fence.

A request for relief was turned down by a PGA official and instead Padraig took a penalty drop. His next shot scooted across the fairway and behind a line of trees on the other side. The fourth trickled through the green and into thick rough just off the putting surface. Then followed as close to a duffed pitch as made no difference, leaving him with a treacherous thirty five foot putt downhill with a three yard right to left break. Incredibly, it took the curve beautifully and dropped in to a mighty roar of approval.

Harrington was again the gallery’s favourite at the short 6th where his crisp six iron pulled up four feet behind the stick. To his dismay, though, he missed the putt and dropped another stroke at the 7th by which stage he was looking just a little frustrated. 37 to the turn meant he was losing ground rapidly and he fell three over for the day and ten overall with another dropped shot at the 10th.

Then followed eight pars to finish and a glimmer, perhaps, at the end of a dark tunnel for these are among the most difficult holes in all of golf. And he finished in style, too, getting up and down spectacularly from 150 yards.