Olazabal: It’s win or bust for Harrington
Harrington recorded his lowest opening PGA Tour round in two years in carding a seven under par figure on the opening day of the FedEx Cup Play-Off Series in New York.
The triple Major champion birdied six of seven holes over the inward half of the Bethpage Black course to grab an early clubhouse lead.
But what Harrington didn’t expect in the Big Apple was the usually unassuming US golf media taking a bite out of him over an incident that occurred in a Seve Trophy match with Olazabal nine years ago in far off Valencia.
“I’m not really going to get into and discuss it because I’m either going to do one of two things: I’m either going to look like I’m pleading or I’m going to look like I’m incriminating myself, one or the other,” said Harrington.
“As I keep saying to people, you over here have this thing called the fifth amendment.
“So I’m going to plead the fifth. I’m not going to build myself up or I’m not going to tear myself down. At the end of the day, it’s up to him (Olazabal).
“I am very supportive of José when he got the captaincy. I truly believe that he’s interested in winning the Ryder Cup.
“Also from the character that José is, I believe he would put winning way above anything that’s personal.”
Olazabal himself ended his round of a six over par 78 at Gleneagles less than an hour after Harrington finished.
And while the Spaniard was suitably impressed by Harrington’s first day effort in the Barclays, he was asked to define what he meant by stating at the recent PGA Championship that Harrington needed an “extraordinary” effort to be afforded a wildcard pick.
“At least a win,” Olazabal said bluntly.
Recent US PGA Championship winner Rory McIlroy is five shots off the pace after an opening day two under par.
Meanwhile, former Irish Open winner, Brett Rumford of Australia posted a five under par 67 to share the Johnnie Walker Championship lead with Norwegian and playing partner, Knut Borsheim.
Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin birdied two of his three closing holes to be the best of the Irish contingent with a round of 70.
However Michael Hoey labelled his actions as “stupid” after a second straight breach of the rules after his ball had come to rest in ground under repair at the par five, 16th he was playing as his seventh on the PGA Centenary course.
Hoey’s mistake, under a preferred lie in effect on the rain-softened 2014 Ryder Cup host venue, was to place his ball instead of first taking a mandatory shoulder length drop.
The five-time European Tour winner was then forced to add a two-stroke penalty in an eventual round of a one under par 71.
“It’s my own fault and I just played a little bit too quick and need to just take a little bit more time in situations like those, because you have to actually drop the ball first before a prefer lie,” he said.
“So there we go more penalties. It’s just stupid and ridiculous.”
Elsewhere, Darren Clarke’s Gleneagles love affair continued with the former British Open winner posting his ninth straight round in the 70s, a 75.
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