US TOUR DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP:PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON'S grand chase turned out to be futile, as the 40-year-old Dubliner – yesterday registering a final round 75 for three-over-par 287 in the Deutsche Bank championship in Boston – bowed out of the US Tour's FedEx Cup series.
Having played for six straight weeks, dating back to the Irish Open at the end of July, Harrington’s stateside odyssey took him in turn to Akron, Atlanta, Charleston, New York and then Boston where his bid to stay within the top 70 on the FedEx Cup standings came to a rather tame end.
Harrington went into the final round of the Deutsche Bank – the second of four play-off events on the US Tour’s end-of-season schedule – needing a top-30 finish to move on to the BMW Championship in Chicago next week but failed to find a single birdie. Instead, he ran up four bogeys (at the second, eighth, ninth and 12th) in closing with a 75 that left him in 73rd position in the tournament and in 88th, outside the top-70, on the FedEx Cup standings.
The failure to remain in the FedEx Cup means Harrington’s campaign in the US is at an end for the year and he will now switch his schedule back to the European Tour, with his next appearance expected to be at the Dunhill Links in Scotland in three weeks’ time. Harrington is also expected to add the Portuguese Masters onto his schedule, before heading to the Far East where he is likely to play in the Singapore Open and defend his title in the Johor Open in Malaysia, which is now a joint-event on both the Asian and European Tours.
As of now, Harrington is not yet into the field for the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shangahi in November. There is a cut-off point of October 17th for entry into that event and Harrington will need to be inside the world’s top 25 at that point or, more probably, need to win the Dunhill Links to gatecrash his way into the elite field for the HSBC.
Graeme McDowell’s interest in the FedEx Cup also ended, albeit in more frustrating manner. The Ulsterman bogeyed his penultimate hole and then missed a six-footer for birdie on the 18th which offered him a lifeline as he signed for a closing round 71 for 280, four under par, that wasn’t sufficient to keep him in the play-off series.
Having turned in 37 shots to be one over on his round through nine holes, McDowell birdied the 10th and 13th holes to move onto the top-70 bubble in the play-off standings but was pushed outside with a bogey on the 17th. On the par-five 18th, he found the greenside rough and pitched to six feet only to see the birdie putt – that would have left him in a projected 70th position in the standings – run by the cup.
With his interest in the FedEx Cup finished, McDowell has the option of playing in next week’s Vivendi Trophy. McDowell is qualified on the Britain and Ireland team through the world rankings. The teams for the match – with Paul McGinley captaining Britain and Ireland and Jean van de Velde captaining continental Europe – are due to be confirmed today.
McDowell formed a formidable partnership with Rory McIlroy two years ago, but his fellow northerner has decided not to play this year.
Webb Simpson and Chez Reavie were tied for the lead at 14-under-par in Boston as the tournament reached the closing holes yesterday.
