Harrington refuses to make excuses for meltdown on No. 16
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
AKRON, Ohio -- Padraig Harrington refused to take the bait.
No matter how many times the question was asked, no matter how many ways the reporters went about it, he didn't blame that triple bogey at the 16th hole Sunday on the fact that he and Tiger Woods were put on the clock just before they teed off there.
"There are rules and the players make the rules and we've got to apply them," Harrington said simply. More than once, in fact.
The Irishman had held a one-stroke lead in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational when he and the game's No. 1 player had come to Firestone's signature par 5. When they left, he trailed by three, and Woods had his seventh Bridgestone Invitational title well in hand.
Given the situation, Harrington admitted he felt rushed when he hit the drive that strayed into the right rough and began the debacle. Ditto for the 5-iron he chipped across the fairway into the tall grass on the incline above the left fairway bunker.
What Harrington called Woods' "superb" and towering 8-iron from 178 yards that settled inches from the pin admittedly was a distraction. But the Irishman had his own problems as he quickly launched his third shot into the rough above and beside the green.
The fourth, a flop shot to a green that slopes toward a pond, was the killer, though. It took two bounces on the putting surface and plopped into the water. So Harrington had to walk back into the fairway to take his drop, wedged to the fringe, chipped on and made a 3-footer for the 8.
"If I could have played a pitch and run I would have gladly, but there was no choice," Harrington said. "It was a tough shot. ... You've got to swing at it on a downslope. You've got to hit it. I just got a little too much on the club face and didn't get under it enough, and it came out too strong."
While Harrington took the high road in his comments after the round, Woods was more forceful. He said he didn't understand why John Paramor put them on the clock. He went so far as to say he felt the rules official "got in the way" of a great battle between the two men.
"I don't think that Paddy would have hit the pitch shot that way if he was able to take his time, look at it, analyze it, but he was on the clock, had to get up there quickly and (he) hit it in the water," Woods said.
Woods' surprisingly sharp words came out of respect for Harrington, who is a class act, much like the world No. 1. When the two took off their hats and shook hands after the round, Woods made a point of telling the Irishman they would "definitely" do battle again.
"I've seen him miss cuts and he's out there all weekend long practicing and getting ready for the next week," Woods said. "I admire guys like that because that's how you become better. You have to go earn it. And I think that Paddy is a great example of a guy who goes out there and earns it each and every day."
Paramor, who is the European Tour's chief referee, said that Woods and Harrington, who had first been warned on the sixth hole, were 13 minutes over the alloted time on the through 11. By the time the two reached the 16th hole, they were 17 minutes behind.
"We could have put them on the clock at the 13th but we opted to cut them a bit of slack due to the problems up ahead at the 16th green at the time with J.B. Holmes's group," Paramor said. Holmes took 20 minutes to play the par 5 as he made a double bogey.
"There was plenty of time for those groups basically to catch up," said Slugger White, the PGA TOUR tournament director. For the record, a second bad time would have resulted in an extremely unusual one-stroke penalty and a $5,000 fine.
"Usually, 99 times out of 100, we rarely get to that second time because when they're told about the first bad time they usually get on the horse and try to catch the group ahead of them," White said.
How much is out of position, Harrington would later wonder aloud -- which is the closest he got to questioning the rules officials' action. With the last group on a windy day, some would argue that there could be some discretion exercised but the man who will defend his PGA Championship title next week said that would be unfair.
"If you're asking a player two or three groups ahead of the lead to play within a certain time frame, it's unfair to give the leaders any leeway," Harrington said. "That's the way.
"As I said, the key is you've got to react right when it happens, and I got slightly out of position, and out of position is a difficult position to be on the clock. In position, bundles of time to hit it, so it's not like it's an issue. But definitely I just got caught by being out of position with my tee shot, my second shot and my third shot."
By the time he came into the interview room, Harrington said the incident was "pretty much out of his system." He'll probably be a better player for it, said the pensive man who has taken the pursuit of perfection to a new level.
"I've got the PGA next week, bigger things well, other things ahead of me," Harrington said. "So at the end of the day, when I start hitting shots tomorrow, today will be forgotten about. I'll certainly not be too happy going to bed tonight, I'll be thinking about it. But when I get up and start working tomorrow, it will be all in the back of my mind."
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