Harrington remains positive as putting woes continue
The three-time Major winner failed to convert great recent form and a top-four finish at the US Open last month into a third Claret Jug over the weekend, with rounds of 70-73 sending him to five over for the tournament and firmly in mid-division on the leaderboard.
Three bogeys and no birdies in the final round yesterday were the fault of poor putting but whereas that had been the issue for many months, Harrington was confident this time he was on the right path as he begins preparations for the last Major of the year at Kiawah Island in three weeks.
“I really struggled on the greens. I didn’t hole anything for birdie and made three bad bogeys and that was it,” Harrington said of his final round.
“I had a bad day. The short game, I hit the ball really solid. I had plenty of chances but just wasn’t holing the putts.
“It wasn’t the worst week in the world, I’ve done a lot worse than 42nd in a tournament. I played okay the first few days. I got my head in the right place but the game just wasn’t there. I’ve got to be happy with that, actually very happy.”
If Harrington has any hope of achieving his goal of making a seventh consecutive European Ryder Cup team for the title defence against the United States in Chicago this September he is running out of time to qualify automatically, while the competition for one of captain Jose Maria Olazabal’s two wild card selections is red-hot heading into the final stretch of relevant tournaments.
Not gaining a world ranking high enough to qualify for the ranking-points-heavy WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron in two weeks is another setback as Harrington’s finish outside the top five at the weekend prevented him from climbing back into the world top 50.
Instead, Harrington will play the low-key Reno-Tahoe Open in Nevada on the PGA Tour that same week as final tune-up for the PGA Championship. Naturally, the Dubliner feels he is still not too far away from a return to the winner’s circle.
“Sure, I didn’t have a good week on the greens, especially today, but it wasn’t far away. You’d be surprised how little it would take to go from five over par to three, four under par, it’s hardly a blink of an eye. I hit a lot of decent shots and just really today just needed to hole a few putts.”
Rather than Lytham, Harrington will go into the PGA channelling his US Open performance in June, where he was in contention until the 72nd hole of a tournament won by Webb Simpson.
“Well, I nearly I birdied the last to get into a play-off in the US Open. That was only a few weeks ago.
“Yeah, I’m playing as good as I’ve ever played. I could putt a little bit better. But even then I’m putting better than I have been. So I’m in good stead.
“I don’t judge this as necessarily a bad week.”
Harrington is well aware that if he is to make the plane for Medinah he would be better to get a big win than rely on a wild card from Olazabal. Trouble is, his fall out of the world’s top 50 and failure to get into the WGCs this year is coming back to bite him at a crucial stage of the qualifying process.
“I’m not going to talk about it. It’s not something I can talk about. The key for me it to try to qualify by merit. That’s what I’ve got to do. I can’t even begin to think or entertain what’s going through his head. I’ve just got to concentrate and play my golf and do my thing.”
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