Bradley brings it home but his ‘compatriots’ need a boost
Keegan’s uncles John, Chris and Tom Bradley were regular visitors to the Three Brothers tournament in the Kerry town, winning the event in 2001, helped enormously by the ‘captaincy’ of their sister Pat, the celebrated six-times Major winner on the US Ladies PGA Tour, who accompanied them on all their visits here.
The family has delighted in declaring their Irishness at every opportunity, and eagle-eyed viewers spotted the tricolour decorating his golf bag at the PGA.
As for the ‘official’ Irish in Atlanta, however, it was the first Major of 2011 in which they made little or no impression on the leaderboard. It came as no surprise that Darren Clarke missed the cut. He still hasn’t come down from his British Open victory high and will welcome a fortnight’s holiday after all that ensued in recent weeks.
Clarke next sees action at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, the first counting tournament for the 2012 Ryder Cup.
Graeme McDowell’s predicament is more difficult to assess. His failure in a succession of tournaments has led him to tumble to 13th in the world rankings with little sign of a corner being turned. This time last year, he was the proud holder of the US and Wales Opens and was on his way to further success in the Andalucia Masters and the Tiger Woods World Challenge in California, not to mention a pivotal role in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.
Nowadays, he can hardly make a cut and in a forthright manner, admits to not knowing where the problem lies. McDowell has this week off but at 92nd in the FedEx Cup rankings on the PGA Tour, has qualified to tee it up in the Barclays Championship, the lucrative first tournament in the series, beginning on Thursday week.
He needs to be in the top 100 after that event to progress to the Deutsche Bank tournament a week later.
FOR Pádraig Harrington, these are even more testing times. At least he made the cut at the weekend but finished at the back of the field, is now a lowly 74th in the world rankings and five places outside of an automatic place in next week’s Barclays event. The top 125 make it, so Harrington has replaced a planned family holiday in the Bahamas this week with a late entry for the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro, North Carolina.
The indications are that only a top-15 finish will get him into the Barclays and, given his form, that seems a tall order. He’s not the only multiple Major champion to find himself in such troubles. Ernie Els is 126th in the FedEx standings and will also be in Greensboro while Tiger Woods’ American season is over almost before it has begun.
He is 129th but, unlike Harrington and Els, won’t play in the Wyndham, which means that the sponsors of the four FedEx tournaments and the television networks will be deprived of their most prized asset.
While Rory McIlroy’s appearances on this side of the Atlantic next year will be limited because of his plans to rejoin the PGA Tour, for the moment he is concentrating on European Tour action. He rests his injured wrist over the next few days, content to make his way to Cincinnati to watch his new girlfriend, tennis world number one Caroline Wozniacki, compete in the Southern & Western Open. Like Clarke, he will hope to kick-start his Ryder Cup offensive with a good performance in Switzerland — provided his wrist has healed.
Meanwhile, the lesser lights on the European Tour return to action this week in the Czech Open at the Prosper Golf Resort in Celadna.
Swede Peter Hanson is back to defend his title, which earned him a spot in the Ryder Cup team, and also in the field is Spain’s Miguel-Angel Jimenez, co-designer of the two courses at the Czech resort, along with Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Michael Hoey, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane and Paul McGinley.
Lawrie will hope to go one better than last year when he lost in a play-off to Hanson.
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