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Paddy's Day
Shark.com Staff
November 20, 2006
While the golf world had been focusing on Tiger Woods and his recent run of victories, Ireland's Padraig Harrington has quietly enjoyed some of his finest stretch of golf in the last month.
First he claimed his first European Order of Merit (money) title last month, thanks to a final-hole blunder by Sergio Garcia at The Volvo Masters. That day was the only time all year Harrington had been atop the European money list.
Then on Sunday, Harrington did the unthinkable -- he rallied to catch Tiger Woods late in a tournament, then beat the No. 1-ranked player in a playoff at the Dunlop Phoenix in Miyazaki, Japan.
 | | Harrington edged past Luke Donald in the world rankings, giving him the title as the top European in the sport. |
Harrington was trailing Woods by two shots with three holes to play when he birdied the 16th, then watched as Woods inexplicably three-putted for a bogey that left them tied for the lead. Pars at the 17th and birdies at the 18th moved them to a playoff, where Woods had a handsome 14-1 record as a professional.
Harrington knew he couldn't play safe and expect to beat his formidable foe. So after hooking his tee shot on the par-5 second hole, Harrington decided he couldn't chip out and expect to win with a conservative route.
So he took a huge gamble by trying to hit his second shot through an open area in a V-shaped tree. The ball hit the tree but still somehow ricocheted into the fairway, leaving Harrington a simple wedge approach. The Irishman stuck it to tap-in distance and, when Woods failed to convert his 10-foot birdie putt, Harrington joined Billy Mayfair (1998 Nissan Open) as the only pros to beat Woods in a playoff.
"When you come up against Tiger, you've got to take whatever opportunities are presented," Harrington said of his second-shot gamble. "I saw it as a great chance of hitting a spectacular shot to win the playoff and it came off. I definitely got lucky, but sometimes fortune favors the brave."
Thanks to the win, Harrington moved up from No. 11 to No. 8 in Monday's world rankings, edging him past No. 9 Luke Donald and unofficially giving him the title as the top European in the sport. Harrington, 35, hadn't been in the top 10 in 15 months -- since he won the Honda Classic and the Barclays Classic in 2005 for his lone victories on the PGA Tour.
This is all heady stuff for a player who admittedly had journeyman's status as recently as 10 years ago. But Harrington has used hard work and a steady approach to move his way up golf's totem pole.
 | | Harrington: "Having him put the (winner's) jacket on my back was special." |
His veteran coach, Bob Torrance of Scotland, says he believes that when Harrington is in the proper frame of mind, he can play with anyone in the world, anywhere.
"Padraig has the game for any golf course," Torrance said. "And when his mental side is good he can win anywhere."
No doubt beating Woods in any fashion is going to do wonders for Harrington's confidence, especially the way it unfolded. Now Harrington and everyone else knows what the next step should be.
"The fact I've beaten Tiger in a playoff makes me no different a golfer than when I came here this week," Harrington said. "Having him put the (winner's) jacket on my back was special, but I did say to him I'd like him to do it with a different jacket at a different time in the future."
Harrington, of course, was referring to the green jacket given to the winner of the Masters in April. Harrington has had his share of success in the majors, finishing fifth an amazing five times -- at the 1997 British Open, the 2000 U.S. Open, the 2002 Masters, the 2002 British Open and this year's U.S. Open. But this year he missed the cut at the British Open and the PGA Championship.
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