The Irish rule
Who knew that Padraig Harrington would step to the plate while Tiger Woods mended his injured knee?
- Regardless of who's in the field, three out of the last six majors is amazing ... particularly the way Harrington was won them in which he's rallied on the back nine in each of them. Few were more dramatic than Sunday's PGA Championship where he sank three 12-foot-or-more putts on the final three holes to erase Sergio Garcia's one-shot lead.
- Speaking of Garcia, it gives me great joy to see him lose to Harrington again. The guy's a whiner - doing it again in yesterday's press conference where he bemoaned how 'fortunate' everyone else is, but said fortune never comes his way. Rather than man up and say 'I should have sank that birdie putt on No. 17 and not pushed my three-wood into the rough off the tee at No. 18, particularly after Harrington went in the sand just a few moments before me' ... he just pretty much says everyone else is lucky to beat him.
- Is Harrington the PGA Tour Player of the Year? Well, maybe. Two majors in a year is impressive, but Woods won four of the six tournaments he entered, was on pace to shatter the record for lowest score per round average and punctuated the season with his dramatic one-legged win in the U.S. Open (though I still think it was mildly exaggerated ... I know, call me crazy). It's tough. If Harrington plays in the FedEx Cup playoffs and notches another win or records some Top Five finishes, it would be hard to not give him the award then. Right now, though, it's a dead heat.
- The U.S. Ryder Cup team should be interesting, particularly with no Woods. Ben Curtis played his way onto the team with his second-place finish yesterday, and now Paul Azinger's got a tough choice for the two captain spots. I'd lean toward taking youth this time around. J.B. Holmes had a lousy final round, but the thought of him in a Best Ball competition is scary. And you can't go wrong by adding either D.J. Trahan, Brandt Snedeker or Hunter Mahan.
- Regardless of who's in the field, three out of the last six majors is amazing ... particularly the way Harrington was won them in which he's rallied on the back nine in each of them. Few were more dramatic than Sunday's PGA Championship where he sank three 12-foot-or-more putts on the final three holes to erase Sergio Garcia's one-shot lead.
- Speaking of Garcia, it gives me great joy to see him lose to Harrington again. The guy's a whiner - doing it again in yesterday's press conference where he bemoaned how 'fortunate' everyone else is, but said fortune never comes his way. Rather than man up and say 'I should have sank that birdie putt on No. 17 and not pushed my three-wood into the rough off the tee at No. 18, particularly after Harrington went in the sand just a few moments before me' ... he just pretty much says everyone else is lucky to beat him.
- Is Harrington the PGA Tour Player of the Year? Well, maybe. Two majors in a year is impressive, but Woods won four of the six tournaments he entered, was on pace to shatter the record for lowest score per round average and punctuated the season with his dramatic one-legged win in the U.S. Open (though I still think it was mildly exaggerated ... I know, call me crazy). It's tough. If Harrington plays in the FedEx Cup playoffs and notches another win or records some Top Five finishes, it would be hard to not give him the award then. Right now, though, it's a dead heat.
- The U.S. Ryder Cup team should be interesting, particularly with no Woods. Ben Curtis played his way onto the team with his second-place finish yesterday, and now Paul Azinger's got a tough choice for the two captain spots. I'd lean toward taking youth this time around. J.B. Holmes had a lousy final round, but the thought of him in a Best Ball competition is scary. And you can't go wrong by adding either D.J. Trahan, Brandt Snedeker or Hunter Mahan.
posted by Jmac at 8:30 AM
1 Comments:
Azinger gets four captain's picks to get the team to 12, and two of those picks better be Woody Austin and Rocco Mediate.
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