Wednesday, August 14, 2002
PGA Notebook
Harrington new Great European Hope
By SETH SOFFIAN
The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press
CHASKA, Minn. — When last seen by most American audiences, Ireland's Padraig Harrington was hitting sideways out of a bunker on the 18th hole in the final round of the British Open.
Harrington opted for a driver on the closing hole at Muirfield and paid the price. His only shot was to go over a spectator railing into the rough, and he was unable to save par, finishing with a bogey to miss what would be a four-man playoff, won by Ernie Els, by a single shot. Harrington, 30, who has finished in the top 10 in all three majors this year, faced plenty of criticism for the decision to hit driver but is convinced he made the right call.
“A lot of people have been talking about it. But hey, I know why I hit it, and that's good enough for me,” said Harrington, who played ahead of the leaders. “I needed to make birdie. There's no way I saw 6-under making the playoff.
“Even if I did think 6-under was making the playoff, I would have hit driver to try to make birdie to win the thing. There's no question about my reasoning on the hole. I'm quite happy with it. If I was playing badly, I would have hit 3-iron.”
Regardless, Harrington has replaced struggling Lee Westwood and fading Colin Montgomerie as Britain's best player, and he comes to the 84th PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club looking for his first career major championship.
“There's a lot of pressures and expectations because I've played well in the majors,” Harrington said. “It's a question of trying to downplay that and trying to play my own game.”
—-
Tom Lehman remembers the pledge during Payne Stewart's memorial service in Houston after Stewart's death in 1999 that “we would never forget Payne.” A ceremony Monday at Hazeltine — where Stewart won the first of his two U.S. Open titles in 1991 during the last major championship contested in Minnesota — is proof to Lehman that Stewart hasn't been forgotten. “I really appreciate the fact that Hazeltine National has taken the effort, the time, had the desire to do something that will always memorialize him here at Hazeltine,” Lehman said.
A bridge spanning the creek next to Hazeltine's challenging 16th hole, which Stewart birdied on the way to his playoff victory over Scott Simpson, was dedicated in Stewart's honor during a ceremony Monday morning. Stewart was later named an honorary member of Hazeltine.
“Whenever you walk across the bridge, you'll see that inscription with his name on it,” Lehman said. “People will think of Payne Stewart.”
—-
Each year, 25 club professionals advance from the PGA of America's Club Professional Championship to participate in the PGA Championship. Each year, all but one or two are on their way home by the weekend. Let this year's reigning CPC champion, Barry Evans of Berry Hills Country Club in Charleston, W.Va., explain why.
“I think what you have to look at is, we're playing against professional golfers, and we're golf professionals,” said Evans, 40, who tried his hand at the mini-tours in Florida before going to work as a club professional years ago.
“Let me tell you what I did this weekend,” Evans said. “We had our club member-member tournament. I was up at five both days, at the club at six both days.
“I play with a lot of the members, but I teach,” Evans said. “I run the golf operations. I do play golf because of my job, but it's not my job to play golf.”
Sports Stories
D'Backs 6, Reds 1
Reds Box, Runs
Baseball deal may be near
Q&A about baseball's labor dispute
Florence ready to play ball
Rijo gets start Hamilton wanted
Reds Notebook: Boone picked up tip on TV
Gonzalez's streak jeopardized
Cardinals 9, Pirates 5
Astros 5, Cubs 4
Angels 7, Tigers 6
Athletics 5, Blue Jays 4
Mariners 10, Red Sox 3
Jones 'wows' Bengals with potential
Simmons accepts six-year contract
Westbrook catching passes again
Bengals Notebook: Anderson plans to be burger king
NFL Notebook: Broncos' Davis may retire
Lakota rivals take game to Miami
UC, Valparaiso agree to 3-year series
PGA Notebook
