Harrington: Another case of Tiger Melt?
AKRON, Ohio – In the classic scenario of a meltdown, we find Dorothy sloshing a bucket of water onto the Wicked Witch of the West, who then bubbles and dissolves, issuing steam or smoke.The scene is supposed to be approximated in golf with anyone pursued by Tiger Woods. Not the actual melting of course – but who can read a man’s mind or soul – but the eyes are supposed to glaze over, the muscles kink, the knees lock, and the like. You don’t look for the scorekeeper, you look for the coroner.
And so classically, that is the fate that awaits Padraig Harrington Sunday, Harrington the easy-smiling, introspective and almost metaphysical Irishman. The scene will open on the final round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, where we will find Harrington, who shot a 67 Saturday, still in the lead, this time by three strokes but this time with the all-devouring Tiger Woods being the one right behind him. Woods leaped up to that position by shooting Firestone South in a 5-under 65 Saturday. Not to repeat all that has gone before in Woods’ 13 years as a pro, but the questions to Harrington centered on the sentiment, “Can you survive the terror tomorrow? And if so, how do you propose to do so?”
This scene has played out before, with different protagonists in the witness chair before the media, and the answers generally are along the line of, “Well, I’m just going to play my game and not get caught up in anything, and see what happens.” And what happens is, the guy gets caught up in everything and disappears.
“I realize I’m going to have a difficult day, that’s for sure,” Harrington said. And wouldn’t you know he hadn’t read the script, and he hadn’t read the case studies from previous slaughters.
“You know, this golf course has been very good for Tiger,” he said. “He’s played well on it in the past and done well, so I don’t thing anything is going to be easy tomorrow. Probably at best, it’s going to be a long, hard day and a battle. That’s what I’m going to prepare myself for.”
First, a word about Wood playing well on Firestone South. Owning the course is more like it – six wins in nine visits and almost $8 million in winnings. This is a home course advantage.
“I do feel comfortable here,” Woods had said, with a straight face, having finished some time earlier, before he knew where he would stand and against whom coming into the final round. “As of right now, I’m tied for the lead, but more than likely I’ll probably be one or two back going into tomorrow.”
About that time, Harrington managed to boot a shot and bogey the huge par-5 16th, slipping to 9-under par. And so the feeling was that he had seen the leaderboard and was starting to get the Tiger Woods jitters.
“I didn’t know that Tiger was on the board, no idea,” Harrington said. “Until I holed out on 18. I looked up to see who I would be paired with tomorrow. That’s all I was looking for. I had no idea. It was a surprise to see him there.”
The surprise was Woods shooting 65, to Harrington’s 67, and Tim Clark, the challenger all day, not only shooting 71, but making it 73 with a two-stroke penalty for not replacing his ball before holing out at the 16th. And that’s how Tiger traps are set.
Lest anyone think that Harrington is going to be one scared-stiff Irishman in the final round, two things ought to be mentioned. First, in the 2002 Target World Challenge, an unofficial event with lots of spending money, Harrington beat Woods by two. And in the 2006 Dunlop Phoenix, an official event in Japan, Harrington tied Woods in regulation and then beat him on the second playoff hole.
Which is not to say that Harrington can even approach those performances Sunday, not in the midst of retooling his swing and just starting to play half-decently after a hot streak that saw him win the 2007 British Open, and then in 2008, win the British Open again, and the PGA Championship shortly after it.
“Before Paddy won the major championships, before he won tournaments,” Woods said, “he finished second a lot. And once he started winning and started understanding how to do it, he started repeating it. Once you understand how to do it, it’s amazing how you can repeat it.”
There are some other items Las Vegas might like to mull over in making predictions. Such as, Harrington is 8-for-20 when leading after three rounds, and – this being too remote to factor in – the last time was in the 2007 Irish Open when he tied and won in a playoff. On the PGA Tour, Harrington has held the third-round lead only twice, and tied for second one time and won the in the other. Woods, on the other hand, has won the Bridgestone three times coming from behind in the final round. None of which would surprise Harrington.
“Whatever happens tomorrow, I ain’t out there to prove anything to anybody,” Harrington said. “I’m not out there saying that this is the end of it. Tomorrow is just another day and I’m not going to make too big a deal out of it until tomorrow evening – if I win. Then it’ll be a big deal. But if I don’t it won’t be a big deal.”
Summing up all the factors – Harrington’s swing work, Woods’ home-course advantage, Woods himself, etc. – smart money says you can count Harrington out. Just don’t look for a meltdown, and be sure not to count too fast.
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