Golf:The trophy cabinets of Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington – both Major champions – won't be getting any new company after the two Irishmen struggled in the third round of the US PGA Championship here at Atlanta Athletic Club and faded out of contention with the Ulsterman signing for a 74 and the Dubliner for a 75 which left them both well off the pace, on seven-over-par 217.
For both of them, the root of the problem was their putting. McIlroy had three three-putts – the same as he had in Friday’s second round – while Harrington struggled on the greens and failed to convert a number of birdie opportunities which he gave himself.
McIlroy, with his wrist still strapped to alleviate the tendon sprain he sustained when hitting a tree root with his recovery shot during the opening round, was frustrated and yet philosophical. “I’ll have plenty more chances to win this tournament,” said the 22-year-old northerner, adding: “I’ll go out and try my best (on Sunday) and try to shoot a good score. Then, I’ll take a couple of weeks off to rest and hopefully come back ready to go again.”
In pinpointing the putting as a big disappointment – “I’ve putted terribly this week. . . . . (but) I don’t want to make any excuses, because I just haven’t played good enough,” he said – McIlroy intends to take a break and to stay away from hitting any balls until he returns to action in the European Masters in Switzerland in a fortnight’s time.
“I think there was two pivotal moments in this tournament for me. It was obviously the shot on the third on Thursday, and the six iron on 17 yesterday (which led to a triple bogey six),” said McIlroy.
Again harking back to that shot on the third hole in the third round where his seven-iron impacted with the tree root, McIlroy remarked; “You learn more from your mistakes than you do doing anything else. If I had pulled off the shot on Thursday and everything would have been fine, then I probably would have said, ‘yeah, I’ll do it again or whatever’ but, if I was in that position again, maybe the 23-year-old McIlroy wouldn’t do it.”
Harrington’s third round unravelled on the front nine, as he picked up five bogeys on that stretch. “Obviously, I didn’t get the start I wanted,” conceded Harrington. “I was obviously pushing hard early on . . . . I’ve another round to go, and I’ll go out and play tomorrow, see what the game is like. I like the way I played the last nine holes, when I created lots of chances. So I would like to put a good scoring round with a good playing round together and shoot a low one. I’d love for some confidence that way.”
Currently outside the top-125 on the FedEx Cup standings on the US Tour, Harrington – who was scheduled to go on a family holiday to the Bahamas next week – has tentatively entered the Wyndham Championship, the last counting event before the FedEX series starts, but won’t make a decision on whether he competes until after the final round of the PGA.
