Quintuple bogey ends Harrington’s challenge

AGONY.

Just a week after taking an excruciating eight to throwaway the Bridgestone Invitational, Pádraig Harrington repeated the trick to see his hopes of winning the US PGA and his fourth major championship sink without trace at wind-blown Hazeltine National last night.

One stroke behind leader Tiger Woods and tied for second with Korea’s YE Yang on six-under par after opening with seven solid pars, the Dubliner racked up a horrific, quintuple bogey eight on the par-three eighth hole to kiss the title goodbye in the most bizarre and stomach-churning fashion.

Ireland’s triple major winner came to the 167-yard par three with high hopes of putting himself in position heading into the back nine and challenging Woods. But with the wind whipping from left to right, he blocked his six-iron dangerously and grimaced as it splashed down in the pond right of the green.

The Dubliner then elected to play his third shot from the drop zone at the end of the tee but pulled it so far left that playing partner Henrik Stenson and his caddie Fanny Suneson had to duck for cover. Harrington’s ball plunged into deep rough and from there he gave an action replay of the shot that cost him an eight and the title at the par-five 16th hole in the final round at Firestone Country Club just seven days earlier, where he was one ahead of Woods at the time.

Buried in deep rough, he tried to hit a flop shot to a pin situated just five yards from the right hand side of the green but got too much club on the ball and watched in horror as his fourth shot flew into the water hazard again. Dropping in deep rough for six, Harrington could only put his next effort a few yards forward into more deep rough and he did well to chop his seventh stroke down to four feet and hole out for an eight.

As a result he dropped from tied second to 11th, going from six under to one under in the blink of an eye.

He gathered himself to par the ninth but he turned in five over par 41 with Woods and Yang tied for the lead on six under and battling for the title with a three stroke advantage over Rory McIlroy, England’s Lee Westwood and US Open champion Lucas Glover.

Seven behind overnight, McIlroy began with a nightmare double bogey six at the first to slip back to one over par for the championship.

But he stormed to the turn in two under par 34 with three birdies on the spin from the third and another at the ninth before erasing a bogey at the 12th with a birdie at the 14th to get to three under for the championship.

The four inch rough came in for major criticism from World number eight Geoff Ogilvy, who lashed the PGA of America over its course set up.

“It’s been a frustrating year for me in the Majors this season but in 2010 we are playing on some ‘real’ golf courses,” he spat. “Pebble Beach, St Andrews and Whistling Straits, which was my most enjoyable PGA that I have ever played, and it’s a golf course the PGA of America can least likely ruin with regards to set-up.

“So as far as propagating and harvesting absurd rough that they seemed to have done for the last two years in the PGA, I don’t believe at Whistling Straits they can do that.

“It’s just so frustrating and every player in the field and in the world of golf who comes off says it’s not the way forward in golf, yet they keep doing it.”

Ogilvy reckons the US Open is now the only major going in the right direction with its policy of graded sections of rough, especially around the greens

“The rough they’ve got around the greens here is just not necessary,” Ogilvy said. “Some of the shots that have been bouncing left of the green this week, and they don’t get to a bunker. Why does the PGA persist with rough so thick around the greens?

“Golf should be about hitting hard shots from good lies and not easy shots from bad lies. So if your green is not good enough to defend itself without six to eight inch long rough then the green is not good enough.

“You don’t need long rough at Augusta. You don’t need it at Oakmont. You don’t need it at Pinehurst. You don’t need it at Royal Melbourne. You don’t need it at Shinnecock Hills. You don’t need it anywhere.”

Ogilvy then headed for his car and it wasn’t long before he was on Twitter with this gem: “I am thinking we should all pool together and buy the PGA a lawn mower for Christmas.”

While Ogilvy was furious, three-time major winner and world number two Phil Mickelson headed back to San Diego to take care of his wife after posting his worst four round aggregate in a major for 11 years.

Not even an eagle two at the 490 yard first, where he holed out with a five-iron from 205 yards could add a silver lining to his cloud.

The American left-hander had made the cut on the mark but added two rounds of 76 on the weekend to finish 73rd of the 79 survivors on 12 over par 300.

It was his worst score in a major since he shot 308 in the Open at Royal Birkdale in 1998 but with his wife Amy battling breast cancer, his mind was anywhere but Hazeltine.