Live from the PGA on Tuesday: Harrington-Woods Rematch at Hazeltine

Golf writer Andy Reistetter is on site at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota and is providing daily reports covering both inside and outside the ropes.

Here are his thoughts after attending the morning media interviews on Tuesday 8/11/09.

Padraig Harrington's meltdown on the 16^th hole at Firestone CC on Sunday will be long forgotten come 8:35 a.m. on Thursday morning.

At that time in the appointed place of the 10th tee at Hazeltine the defending champion will be teeing off in the 91st rendition of the PGA Championship.

Next up on the tee will be Rich Beem who won the PGA here at Hazeltine in 2002.

The last member of the threesome will be Tiger Woods winner of the last two PGA Championships he competed in back in 2006 at Medinah and 2007 at Southern Hills.

Let the games begin!

The debate over "WGC Gate"- the slow play warning administered by European Tour Referee chief referee John Paramor to the final twosome of Harrington and Woods continues.

Harrington came in for his 10:00 a.m. Media Center interview at Hazeltine and played coy at first when questioned if he was surprised Tiger sprung to his defense and reportedly will be fined for his comments.

"I didn't read any of his (Tiger's) comments. As normal, I don't read anything written about anything that I'm involved in. I haven't done it since I'm 18 years, so I have no idea what was said. And you know, so I can't comment because I don't know."

Apparently rattled by the intrusion at the time it appeared it impacted his ability to play the pivotal hole. "I reacted poorly to the situation, and that's my own fault. It's part of the rules that these things are going to happen."

The end result was the three-time Major Champion triple bogeyed the hole to lose his one stroke lead and the golf tournament.

Tiger with 14 Major Championships on his resume birdied and went on to win his 70^th golf tournament.

Padraig, with his memory apparently no longer on the relapse then made an interesting comment.

"As regards (to) what he said, you know, I think it's easier for having won the tournament, he can take the moral high ground and say what he wants. Having lost the tournament, I'm going to sit back and just -- you know, there's not much; I'm going to take it on the chin and say it was my mistake."

So it did impact his play and he agrees it was a dumb call to make by the referee?

Harrington then exited right and left the media center.

Next up was Tiger Woods for the main show at 11 a.m.

He was running 5-to-10 minutes late and didn't laugh at one reporter's comment that maybe he should be put on the clock or possibly fined again.

Not even a Tigeresque wide smile or grin. Nothing honey.

Hey Tiger what's going on with that fine from Sunday comment naming names and questioning the judgment of a tour official?

"Yes, I've heard from the TOUR and there's no fine that was an erroneous report."

What no fine?

He heard from the tour and there is no fine.

Make a note of that quotation.

Is Tiger Woods bigger than the PGA TOUR?

Is Tiger Woods bigger than the world federation of golf tours that run the WGC events?

Tiger's perspective is simple.

"The way I understood it, we were the only two in contention to win the event. We had separated ourselves. The winner was not going to come from the groups ahead, even though Robert played just a great round ahead of us. It was going to come from our group. And we were having a great battle."

"We got on the 17th tee, hit our shots down the fairway and as we were arriving at the ball, the group ahead of us was now entering the 18th fairway."

Does it depend what you mean by the word "at"?

Does golf need a 45 second clock for hitting golf shots?

They should have left us alone and no I am not going to pay a fine.

Wow this is two Majors in a row with a little controversy early in the week.

Remember the Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie faceoff at the Open at Turnberry?

Referees in golf?

Players behaving badly?

What sport is this? Football, basketball or baseball?

There is a vote on Thursday concerning golf being an Olympic sport come the summer games of 2016.

Let's get back to the above reproach standard.

"That's why I said what I said, because that certainly affected how Paddy played the hole, and how the outcome of the tournament."

Is Tiger's 70th win tainted?

Do we need an investigation to determine what relationship, if any, exists between Tiger Woods and referee John Paramor?

Does John Paramor bet on the game of golf?

Just nonsense I hope.

Let's not go there.

Rather let's get on with the playing of the 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

Great golf course.

Strongest field of the year.

"The year's last Major, Glory's last stand."

Please let the right games begin!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte VedraBeach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]