Harrington laments play-off history

Padraig Harrington now has a 23rd runners-up finish to his name after losing a play-off for the Buick Classic in America last night.

On the eve of the US Open, he tied with Sergio Garcia and South African Rory Sabbatini, but bogeyed the second extra hole. Garcia won – for the second time in five weeks – at the next and, having finish joint fourth at the Masters, is now fifth on the US Tour money list this season.

“Obviously it is a disappointing end,” said Harrington. “After I got into the play-off, I had a good chance on the first to win it. I hit a good putt (from just under eight feet), but it just straightened out a little bit at the hole and just missed on the high side. It was a pity.

“At the next, I probably got a little bit over-confident with my birdie chance from the fringe of the green after holing the one in real-time. I got a bit aggressive and knocked it eight feet by.

“I played terrible all week, though. I really struggled. I haven’t got the ball under any control, didn’t know where it was going to go next.

“It was one of those weeks you knuckle down and you get aggressive and make as many birdies as you can and hopefully don’t make too many bogeys.”

It was Harrington’s second runners-up finish in a row, having been pipped by Trevor Immelman in his defence of the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Heidelberg.

It is also his third second place on the US Tour after two near misses in the Players Championship the last two years.

He is still waiting for his first US Tour victory, but he did capture the unofficial Williams World Challenge in California two years ago by beating Tiger Woods head to head.

He and Garcia will be trying this week, of course, to become the first European to win a major since Paul Lawrie in 1999 and the first to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

“Ideally before a US Open, I would have liked to have just played nice golf this week and not got every bad break in the book and just sauntered in the middle of the field with a great swing.

“I’ve done the opposite. I had a poor week swinging the golf club and kept myself in contention, so it’s been a tiring week mentally and I haven’t got really too much confidence out of it as regards swing-wise.”

Garcia, of course, is full of beans looking ahead to Shinnecock Hills.

“I just hope to ride that momentum to next week and hopefully get it going there and give myself a chance on the back nine on Sunday,” he said after a win that virtually seals his Ryder Cup place. That’s all you can ask for.

“I’ve just got to keep doing the things I’ve been doing and hopefully I will win one (a major) soon. I think it’s just a matter of time.”

Garcia won with a seven-foot birdie putt on the third hole at Westchester. At the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas last month he beat Dudley Hart and Robert Damron on the first play-off hole.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to do pretty well in play-offs, not only here but also around the world,” he added. “I feel pretty comfortable in them.

“Even if I would have not won here, I’d still be confident because I’ve been playing well. But it definitely helps. Every time you get a win, it’s that much sweeter. I feel like I know what I want to do on the course, I feel like my game is responding quite well and thanks to a couple tips that Brad Faxon gave me earlier in the week, my putting has been coming along nicely this week.”