Sports Review of 2008 Part 2: Harrington makes hay while the Tiger's away

Published on Friday 26 December 2008 21:08

TEN years ago, Padraig Harrington finished 32nd in the US Open at the Olympic club in San Francisco and concluded his best wasn't going to be good enough to win major championships.

He contacted Bob Torrance and the following month at Loch Lomond asked the sage of Largs to re-build his swing. The combination of Ireland's greatest golfer and Scotland's finest coach, yoked together by the work ethic, turned out to be a glorious partnership as Harrington reaped a dividend for his dedication in 2008 with back-to-back victories at the Open at Royal Birkdale and the US PGA at Oakland Hills.

Now the proud owner of three major titles – his breakthrough arrived the previous summer after an Open play-off at Carnoustie – Harrington produced blistering finishes on the back nine in both Southport and Detroit to thwart Greg Norman (who staged the comeback of the year) and Sergio Garcia respectively. Watching the climax of both championships on TV at home in Florida, where his wounded knee was recovering from surgery, no-one understood the measure of the Dubliner's desire better than Tiger Woods.

Explaining later why he voted for Harrington as the PGA Tour's player of the year – the Irishman also won end-of-season awards from the golf writers of Europe and America – the world No 1 remarked: "It was nice to see Paddy play as well as he did. It was just a matter of time.

"The confidence you get from winning one (major], and then two just proves to you that one wasn't a fluke. It gives you all the confidence in the world. And look how he did it; he shot 32 on the back nine on both of them. He got it done the right way. He went out and earned it."

Of the two triumphs, perhaps Harrington's defence of the Claret Jug had the edge in shot-making. The bold 5-wood swept 249 yards by the Irishman to within three feet of the pin on the 17th at Birkdale was both fearless and exhilarating in equal measure. And the subsequent tap-in for an eagle-3 closed the door on both Norman and Ian Poulter. The blow was rightly hailed as the shot of the year.

Aware you have to seize the moment in the majors – he's won three of the past six – Harrington recalled: "I was anxious that Greg could make eagle going down there, and if I laid up and I made par, all of a sudden it was very close. I wasn't so much worried about the guy who was two holes ahead of me and finished (Poulter]. I was worried if I laid up and made par, I was giving Greg a great chance to get within one shot of me. And one shot is not comfortable in any shape or form going down the 18th (in the Open]."

Under the tutelage of Torrance, only Harrington's grip remains unchanged. As the Irishman looks ahead to the Masters and an opportunity in April to clinch his third successive major, the Scot is convinced his prodigy will play more tunes of glory. "We've yet to see the best of Padraig," he confided.

The notion, aired on the other side of the Atlantic, that there should have been an asterisk against Harrington's victories because they were achieved during the absence of Woods was absurd. That said, Woods' own triumph at the US Open was extraordinary. The wedge to the final green at Torrey Pines and the 15-foot downhill putt which forced a play-off with Rocco Mediate was the most dramatic moment of a compelling season which began with Trevor Immelman clinching the Masters.

Winning four of the six events he played in America, including that 14th major success, before undergoing surgery on a damaged knee, fuelled Tiger's reputation as one of the game's greatest ever players. If his first triumph in the Masters at Augusta when he smashed a sackful of records remains the benchmark of his career, winning in California on a fractured leg undermined by a torn cruciate ligament was surely the bravest.

No American captain in his right mind would have wanted to undertake the challenge of wresting back the Ryder Cup from Europe without the services of the game's best player. But if there was a silver lining for Paul Azinger at Valhalla in the absence of Woods, it made his wish to present the home side as underdogs more credible.

Seeking a first win in the match since 1999, the US used the absence of Woods to present a united front as a team and inflict a 16-11 defeat on the Europeans. Although there were fine performances from Boo Weekley, Hunter Mahan and Anthony Kim, the explanation for Europe's worst performance in the match since being thrashed at Walton Heath in 1981 could be laid at the door of Nick Faldo's uninspiring captaincy.

Although his decision to hand a wild card to Poulter turned out to be shrewd, too many of Faldo's other judgements during the match were flawed. Dropping the unbeaten Lee Westwood, who had played in every session since 1997, was bewildering, as was his handling of the order in Sunday's singles. Why Harrington, the winner of two majors, wasn't sent out first to hunt down Kim, rather than being lost at the bottom of the order, was just one of many imponderables.

Outflanked by Azinger from first to last, Faldo's grasp of tactics and pairings were as unimpressive as his speeches. Compared to the teams led by Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Sam Torrance and Seve Ballesteros, Europe lacked cohesion in Louisville.

Whatever the Spaniard made of events in Kentucky, Seve, 51, had his own battles to fight as he underwent a series of brain operations. His friends in Scotland and the wider world of golf were united in wishing the winner of three Open championships and two Masters titles, who lost consciousness at Madrid Airport in October and was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from a brain tumour, a guid new year.

World-beating amateurs show what can be achieved

THOUGH notable accomplishments by Scotland's golfers on the professional scene were relatively scarce in 2008 – no-one from the home of golf took part in either the Ryder Cup match at Valhalla or finished the year inside the world's top 100 – there was a surge of encouragement for the future on the amateur circuit.

The performance of the three young men who lifted the Eisenhower Trophy, the world amateur team championship, at Royal Adelaide, just six years after Scotland first competed in the event as an independent golfing nation – they had spent most of the previous half-century as part of a Great Britain and Ireland side – was the highlight of the domestic season.

Callum Macaulay from Tulliallan, Wallace Booth from Comrie and Gavin Dear from Murrayshall thwarted the challenge of 64 other nations to win by nine shots from the USA. According to the captain, George Crawford, who also led the Scots to a brace of successes in the Home Internationals during a four-year stint in charge, team spirit was the key to Scotland's success.

"The three lads played fantastic golf in Australia and to win by such a large margin in a hugely talented field was a remarkable achievement," recalled Crawford. "It was a privilege to work with them and credit to the team spirit we've fostered here as well as at other events this year."

Macaulay, who is now established on the European Tour after joining the professional ranks, reckoned that national coach Ian Rae and junior coach Spencer Henderson were also due a pat on the back for their efforts. "Performing at these events is not just about how you swing the club, but how you manage yourself and your preparations," he recalled. "Ian's advice throughout the build-up and the tournament itself was spot on and it paid off for us all."

That said, Macaulay himself was a key figure on the final day when he made light of the strong wind which buffeted the course by carding four birdies in his first five holes. The Scots finished on 20 under par, winning easily from the USA, 11 under, and Sweden, six under.

Although Alastair Forsyth won the Madeira Island Open and finished ninth at the US PGA – he was only the fourth Scot since 1998 to record a top- ten finish in one of the four elite championships – it was largely a quiet year for the Scots on the European Tour. In America, Martin Laird, the first Scot to play regularly on the PGA Tour in 20 years, won more than $850,000 and retained his card for 2009.

Closer to home on the Tartan Tour, Chris Doak won the money-list and the Order of Merit before heading for Hoylake to become the No1 British PGA player at the Srixon play-offs. The 30-year-old completed an outstanding year when he posted a round of 62 at Tour school and qualified to take part in the Race to Dubai next year.