Harrington not harried by ‘Jaws’ jibe

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON may have shot a blemishless three under-par round 68 in the first round of the BMW Championship, the third tournament of four in the US Tour’s FedEx Championship, in Chicago yesterday, but the Irishman is having to put up with some real ribbing from a friend as he goes about his business.

There is a $10m jackpot on offer to the winner of the US Tour’s FedEx Cup play-off series and at the halfway point Harrington is in seventh place and still within range of leaders Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods.

Yet the friend is not allowing him to forget the shots which cost him so dear at the Bridgestone World Championship and US PGA last month and then at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday as he slipped from first to fourth.

“He sent me the theme tune to ‘Jaws’ – music to stay out of the water – then he sent me a ball retriever,” revealed Harrington.

“Then he invited me to stay at his house for the Portugal Masters coming up and said he’ll put red stakes around the swimming pool just to make me feel at home.

“You’ve got to put up with these things. I’m quite comfortable with putting myself on the line.

“I know I’m going to mess up some days, but the days I don’t are great and I’m quite happy – I’ve got three majors in the bag from the days I didn’t mess up. I had a great chance of winning last week and it hurts. I had a great chance of winning in Akron. It hurt. I had a great chance at the PGA. They all hurt.

But I could hide in the pack, shoot 66 the last day and finish fifth. Everybody would say ‘Nice week’, but I ain’t going to win the tournament there.

“If you put your neck on the line it gets chopped off every now and again. If you don’t want that, you’re not going to win as many tournaments as you can.

“I’m pushing to get a win. I need to perform well this week to get into the top five on the FedEx Cup table. There’s definitely a big case at the moment that I have to be very wary of – the fact that I’ve had four stressful weeks – and that takes its toll.

“But it’s $10m at the Tour Championship. I think I can get motivated again!

“Actually it’s practically 11 and a half because you’d have to win the actual event too.

“I do believe they should give out the cash on the 18th green. Just sit it there just to have a good look at it.

“It would be great, like the World Series of Poker. We could take it in a wheelbarrow up to the clubhouse. Anything that falls out, it’s the caddie’s!”