Harrington down

Sunday, August 16, 2009 5:03 pm (Eastern)

By David Barrett

So much for the man who was supposed to hold up against Tiger Woods, as Harrington drops out with a quintuple bogey

I had already gotten tired of hearing how Padraig Harrington was the one player who could stand up to playing with Tiger, or the one who had stamped himself as his true rival. Evidence, please?

OK, Harrington hung tough for 15 holes at the WGC-Bridgestone last week, but then he triple bogeyed the 16th hole. It got somewhat lost in the slow-play timing controversy, but the fact is that he handed the tournament to Woods on a silver platter (and, by the way, he entered the round with a three-stroke lead).

Then in the first two rounds here he was beaten by Woods both days. Granted, he was tied for second, and Woods played very well, but it's not like he was proving himself to be a Woods-beater.

Harrington did win two majors last year with extremely clutch play down the stretch, but Woods missed both of those majors.

My point is not to tear down Harrington, but to point out that he has not shown himself to be any tougher against Woods than Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh, who have each had their moments against Tiger over the years even if they have lost more than they won.

Harrington wasn't playing with Woods today, but he was battling him for the championship until utterly coming apart on the par-three eighth with an eight that included a tee shot in the water, a yanked shot after a penalty drop, then a skulled wedge into the water across the green.

That left Y.E. Yang as the cool customer against Tiger so far on Sunday. Not only did Yang shoot even par on the front nine to catch Woods, he looked very cool, calm, and collected in doing so.

Still, you've got to like Woods' position heading into the back nine. He's not playing great, but he's due to make a birdie soon, right?

The only thing trending toward a Yang victory is that it would fit right in with the 2009 major theme of the "wrong" man winning. Though in Asia, Woods would be the wrong man. They are rooting as hard for the first Asian major winner as most of us were for Tom Watson at the British Open.

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Whatajoke --- Aug 16th, 2009 08:49 pm

Tiger finally let his ego get in the way of winning a tournament. Despite being the best golfer on the planet, he waltzed around the course on Saturday, thinking no one could come up from behind. Hello Tiger, you got your A** waxed by a relative unknown South Korean that did not reconize your invincibility. Then you showed your real class by walking from the scorers tent into the lockeroom ignoring all of the reporters. We have watched you in Orlando and you are no where near as respectable as Nickalaus,Palmer,Trevino,Norman,Stewart or a host of other 'true champions'. You may have the best ability on the planet but you are no where close to the personality of a true champion. Need to eat a large piece of humble pie before next season and come out firing at the pins instead of trying to ease your way around the course. For those of you that think this is a rant, see Saturday's interview especially the throw it on the green and two putt comments. You would never hear that crap from any of the true champions.