Padraig Harrington tops Ryder Cup table
BBVA Turespana Masters, Club de Campo, Spain: Padraig Harrington moved to the top of Europe's Ryder Cup table yesterday after winning the BBVA Turespana Masters and $150,000 in Madrid.
The 29-year-old Dubliner shot a final round 70 to be 17 under for the tournament and win by two strokes yesterday for his first victory since his unbelievable slip-up at the Benson and Hedges International in May.
In that tournament, Harrington was five strokes clear with 18 holes to play at The Belfry when it was discovered he had failed to sign his first round card. Instead of going on to collect the £166,660 top prize, he was disqualified and left with nothing
Harrington had said that the spectre of The Belfry, when he was disqualified moments before starting the last round five strokes in front, came back to haunt him before this final round in Spain.
"I saw the tournament director, Mike Stewart, walking over to me on the range just like five months ago and I thought 'what on earth does he want?'But unlike the tournament director at The Belfry, Andy McFee, who was white in the face with worry, Mike was smiling, so I knew it was all right. He just wanted to look at my new clubs!"
"I won purely on my mental side," he admitted after surviving a back nine wobble that could easily have scuppered him.
Harrington holds on to the Turespana Masters Trophy. Allsport.
Four ahead with six to play this time, Harrington double-bogeyed the 13th and was in trouble at the par five next before brilliantly recovering from the trees and shooting an unlikely but confidence boosting birdie.
He came under pressure from in-form Scot Gary Orr, who eagled the 14th and birdied the 15th and 18th, but Harrington sank a 20-footer for par on the 16th after going from one bunker to another and then safely parred the last two
It was only the third victory of his five-year tour career, but his second at Club de Campo. His maiden success, in only his 10th European tour event, came in the 1996 Spanish Open.He was going to take the week off, but remembering his 1996 victory he played at this venue, saying: "It was a great decision to come - inspired."
Fellow Irishman, Darren Clarke shot a tremendous 65 to move up 11 places to fourth place. But Clarke needed to win to go back to the top of the European Order of Merit, which is still headed by Lee Westwood.After eight years of uninterrupted domination by Montgomery and with just three events to go, Clarke still trails his ISM stablemate by just over $50,000.
This race will run to the final two tournaments of this season, the Volvo Masters and American Express world championship, where a win double would be worth in the region of $1.5 million. Presuming the duo fare well, it is unlikely that Monty will catch them.
Harrington has had a great fifth season to date on the European tour. For the first time, he has played in and made the cut in all four majors.He made a fine debut in this year's Masters at Augusta National, where he was tied 19th.
The Belfry incident stressed Harrington to the extent that it cost him 12 pounds in weight by the time he played the US Open at his first ever visit to Pebble Beach, ultimately finishing 5th.
At the time of The Belfry incident, it was noted how well he handled the situation in public. Indeed, the Royal and Ancient made a point of lauding him for what they considered to be a most honorable contribution to the integrity of the game.
Watching Harrington in tight, competitive situations can be somewhat unnerving. By his own admission, he needs to be pressurized to concentrate properly. And it's when all seems lost that he responds well.
This aptitude serves him well in match-play situations, in which Harrington has had great success as an amateur representing GB&I in the Walker Cup.
Asa professional, Harrington has also represented Ireland with great distinction in the Dunhill Cup as well as the World Cup, actually winning in Kiawah island in 1997, partnering Paul McGinley.Despite this success, Harrington was relatively unknown in the US until last Fall in Brookline, where he had a stirring Ryder Cup debut for Europe over the first two days and beating Mark O'Meara on the 18th in the final day's singles match-play.
A likeable, usually smiling, dedicated young man, who often eschews the camaraderie of the clubhouse bar for the solitude of the practice green, Harrington is gaining many admirers and is destined to be one of the European tour's stalwart performers.
The timing is fortuitous for both the European tour as well as Ryder Cup captain, Sam Torrance, as many of the Europeans are electing to play in the more lucrative US tour, thus making the selection of the European team, currently with only two wild cards, much more difficult.
Indeed, on a weekend when the Americans are busy, yet more circumspectly, celebrating another fabulous team victory on American shores, it should be noted that Harrington and his fellow youthful European colleagues are already preparing to meet them. They'll be well armed with a ready smile and no small amount of confidence at, of all places, The Belfry!
It should be good.
