Padraig Harrington and What Could Have Been

If Padraig Harrington could hop in a time machine, go back and play three holes again, he would probably be a lock for his second consecutive Player of the Year award.

At the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Harrington held a one-stroke lead over Tiger Woods as the two players approached the par-five 16th.

For some reason, still baffling to everyone, Woods and Harrington were put on the clock despite the fact that they were the final pairing of the day and were on pace to complete their round in just over four hours, which is extremely quick for a Sunday afternoon round on the PGA Tour.

Harrington wound up signing for an eight on the hole after he hit his third shot over the green and then hit his fourth back over the green and into a pond.

Woods calmly hit his third shot to less than two feet and tapped in for birdie.

In the days following the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, there was uproar over Woods and Harrington being put on the clock. Many even blamed Harrington’s eight on the 16th hole on him being put on the clock.

But as they say, all is fair in love, war, and the 16th hole at Firestone Country Club.

Woods and Harrington were both put on the clock that day. Woods birdied the hole, Harrington made an eight—end of story.

Exactly one week later at the PGA Championship, Harrington was once again tied for the lead on Sunday.

But, that was before he had to play the par-three eighth.

After finding the water with his tee shot, Harrington pulled his shot from the drop zone into the thick rough. He chunked his first chip, hit his second chip shot over the green and into the water, dropped in the rough again, and wound up carding a quintuple bogey eight.

And last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship, it happened again.

Harrington was the sole leader as he made the turn on Sunday at TPC Boston.

On the par-four 12th hole, Harrington duck-hooked his drive into the trees. The second he arrived at his ball he immediately knew his only option was to take an unplayable.  Harrington was forced to go back and re-tee his ball which ultimately led to a double-bogey on the hole.

Harrington wound up finishing two strokes behind Steve Stricker—two strokes that could have been avoided with a par on the 12th hole.

Three holes have literally been the cause of three tournaments slipping right through Harrington’s hands over the past month.

Take away the 16th at Firestone, the eighth at Hazeltine, and the 12th at TPC Boston, and Harrington could very well have won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA Championship for the second consecutive year, and the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Yesterday afternoon at the BMW Championship, Harrington birdied the 17th to tie for the lead. He then hit his tee shot on the par-four 18th about as far to the right as you will ever see a PGA Tour player hit a ball.

Harrington’s ball hit a road and bounced directly towards a series of sheds, trucks and tractors that made up the course’s maintenance area.

After Harrington, his caddie, and a handful of marshals had spent a sufficient amount of time looking for his ball under tractors and inside of open garages, he decided to call off the search party and take his provisional which was sitting in the middle of the fairway.

Harrington escaped disaster by hitting his provisional to just a few feet and sinking the putt for a bogey five.

After 36-holes, Harington is tied for third and just one-stroke behind co-leaders Mark Wilson and Tiger Woods.

Can Harrington continue to avoid what is quickly becoming a weekly disaster?

We shall see.

One thing is for sure: golf is a fickle game where one hole can decide a player’s destiny, and no one knows that better than Harrington.