Injury foils Harrington in PGA top ten bid

THE UNWELCOME combination of injury and a card-wrecking double bogey seven at the 7th effectively spoiled Padraig Harrington’s hopes of finishing in the top ten in a major championship for the fourth time yesterday.

Harrington went into the PGA Championship as one of only two players - Sergio Garcia is the other - to have claimed a top ten spot in the Masters, the US Open and the Open earlier in the season, but this time fortune was most certainly not on his side. He was three over for the tournament after nine holes of yesterday’s final round and battling not alone with the difficulties of the Hazeltine National course but also with a major problem with his neck.

The problem flared up on the practice ground just before Saturday’s third round and seriously inconvenienced him through the week-end. The local newspaper, the Star Tribune, carried a dramatic picture in yesterday’s edition of Harrington screaming in agony and apparently being manhandled by his physical therapist, Dale Richardson, a 42-year-old Australian, after he had struck the first drive of his third round on Saturday. His neck locked as he hit a three wood on the practice range and he immediately called for Richardson to come and treat the damage.