Putting woes frustrate Harrington

With the annual New Orleans Jazz Festival in full swing, Pádraig Harrington struggled to find the right key with a flat performance in the Zurich Classic.

Harrington went into the event with a new putting set-up and while he stuck with it for four rounds, it hardly proved inspirational in ending with a one under par tally to finish well down the board.

The triple major winner fired a roller-coaster final round 74 in very hot and humid conditions of the TPC Louisiana course.

“I’ve stuck with a new putting alignment all week and though I didn’t putt all that well, I’ll take it on to Charlotte (Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow). I feel that when I get through the awkwardness of it, I’ll get better with it and be more comfortable. As for the rest of the game, it’s been very average this week. It’s not the set-up of the course or anything like but simply I haven’t played well, at all.”

Harrington started his last day’s play with a par but then bogeyed the second and doubled the third hole when his tee shot found water. He then bogeyed the fourth, birdied the fifth, bogeyed the sixth and holed birdie putts at seven and eight. Harrington has now contested nine PGA Tour events this year and collecting a pay cheque in four but missed the cut in five, with his best finish T27th in the AT& T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Harrington was jetting out of New Orleans straight to Charlotte, North Carolina and will join fellow Irish Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke this week at Quail Hollow.

Meanwhile Frenchman Alexander Levy claimed his first European Tour title on Sunday despite seeing his five-shot cushion cut to just one on the back nine of his final round at the Volvo China Open.

The 23-year-old was three strokes clear heading into Sunday and looked on course for a comfortable victory as he calmly progressed through a flawless first 14 holes with 11 pars and three birdies.

A double-bogey six at the 15th gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope, but he swiftly recovered with birdies on 17 and 18 for a final-round 69 which saw him finish four shots clear of England’s Tommy Fleetwood (68).

Ireland’s Michael Hoey carded a final-round 68 to secure a tie for eighth at Genzon GC. Hoey, who didn’t have any rounds over par, finished 10-under and this finish puts him in 34th place on the Race To Dubai standings.