443 334 434 = 32 + 30-40 MPH of wind = Greatest Back 9 in Championship History?

[Mike Sweeney]

I am sort of surprised that the papers and talk here has not talked more of Paddy Harrington's back 9 yesterday. I don't remember any long putts. He simply hit the ball as pure as I can ever remember AND he did it in substantial wind. Having played only a few times in such winds, X tended to be my favorite score.

It was a bit of a letdown when he hit the shot of his life into 17 and the Championship was over, so maybe that is why there not much talk?

Where does his back nine rank in terms of Sunday's in Majors?

[JESII]

Mike,

It must be the fact that he could have shot 35 and won...or the fact that (even though I am a fan of Paddy) it was tough to not root for Greg to get it all together and make a birdie or two...


Obviously, Jack in '86 has to go into the conversation...

[Jeff_Brauer]

I only hope that it wasn't not written because it was by someone not named Tiger.  I thought it was phenomenal and have to say he won it, rather than the tourney being something that someone didn't lose.  That and the Norman story made Tiger's absence irrelevant, at least IMHO.

[Mark Bourgeois]

I'm with Mike. Just in absolute awe. Was it 15 where he aimed his approach 40 yards right of the green - and ended up on the left fringe?

How could he commit to that shot?!

His iron play under the conditions was nothing short of masterful.

Mark

[JESII]

Mark,

...from 260...and over about 200 yards of crap...

He absolutely won it.

[PThomas]

agreed...a great performance ...he did what Norman so often didn't:  seal the deal/slam the door shut

his 5wood will be remembered as one of golfs greatest shots ever

[JESII]

I thought the birdie on 13 was the winner...the tournament was just waiting for someone to win it...and timed with Poulter's three-putt on 17...

[Chris_Clouser]

Mike,

I just wish he had done it on the front nine as well.  He had that tournament won after the first hole when Norman bogeyed it.  You could see it in Norman's eyes that he was done.

I think it has everything to do with it being Padraig and not Tiger.  If this was Tiger it would be on the front page of every paper and leading every sports show there is.  But because it is someone else it just gets pushed to page 8 of the sports section.  It is reflective of golf and its perception by the mass media and the mass audience.  If it doesn't involve Tiger no one cares.  

I hope all of the golf organizations take note of what happens during this brief break from Tiger overload because it will be a pre-cursor of what will come the day he decides to retire.  Right now they can keep the high dollars from sponsors in the game because they know he will be back, but the day he leaves you will hear a large sucking sound as all the dollars leave the sport.  And the game will get push back to the edge of irrelevancy in the eyes of many people.  

[Jim Nugent]

I agree with Sully.  The last few holes lacked the drama of some other great final nines, such as Jack's at Augusta. 

The year 2000 PGA featured two great final nines, by Tiger and Bob May.  Both shot 31, 5 under, in the same group, to tie and head into the playoff. 

[Brent Hutto]

I used to dislike Padraig Harrington because he was so slow and fidgety around the greens (and everywhere else for that matter). But some time in the last couple years he has improved on that aspect of his game and, perhaps not coincidentally, has now won back-to-back Opens.

I wasn't watching golf in 1986 so by my standards yesterday has to be the best closing holes I've ever seen played by a major-championship winner. All of the guys in contention were playing so well it was easy to forget just how difficult a game golf generally is in a 30-35mph wind. And two days in a row of that is enough for even most good players to wreck their swing. Some of those big wind-riding slinging hooks he was hitting were as bold as any shots I can recall seeing, under the conditions.

And the cool thing about Harrington is that he looks like a big ol' shambling goofball, the way he walks and the grin he has on his face for most of the round belies the fierce competitor he really is. The guy's a real baby-faced assassin.

[Jim Nugent]

I think it has everything to do with it being Padraig and not Tiger.  If this was Tiger it would be on the front page of every paper and leading every sports show there is.  But because it is someone else it just gets pushed to page 8 of the sports section.  It is reflective of golf and its perception by the mass media and the mass audience.  If it doesn't involve Tiger no one cares. 

On top of that, Tiger didn't play, making the event more irrelevant in the eyes of some. 

[Joe Bausch]

Over time Paddy's round will be even further appreciated, and probably become legendary.  Yesterday was so 'busy' with stories, the big one being Norman, that his near perfect back nine somewhat got lost in the noise.  But to me if was every bit as good as Nicklaus' 86 Augusta round.  And Paddy's 5-wood was probably the equal of Jack's 3 iron on #15 (or was that on 13, I forget!).

[Mark Bourgeois]

Given the tournament, as far as finishes shouldn't we be talking Duel in the Sun?

As to the drama being snuffed out, we must credit Padraig, for he did the snuffing.  Don't blame Norman.

On 17 fairway Harrington's caddie told him he had a 2 shot lead and suggested layup. Harrington decided against because he thought he might par and Norman eagle, cutting his cushion to 1.

Harrington must now be considered one of the great thinkers / strategists in the pro game today. Winning the thinker's major two consecutive years will do that for you.

Mark

[Brent Hutto]

If I were to engage is sportswriter-style mind reading, I might speculate that last year's fiasco at Carnoustie played into Harrington's mind standing in the fairway of the 71st hole yesterday. Surely the thought crossed his mind that there was no way on earth he wanted to end up having to win another stinking Open playoff. And whatever his motivation I guess he comprehensively erased the image of balls in the burn in '07 with a much more stirring one.

Bonus question. Will they really bulldoze that green? If so, Harrington's Eagle was produced by a shot that will literally never be repeated...

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mike,

I think it has to be considered one of the best final 9 holes.  He did it in difficult conditions, on a fine course, in the most prestigious major held, and he was bold, he didn't sit back but flat went after it and took everyone to the woodshed.  David Grahmn's (sp?) last round at Merion was pretty darn good, I think he hit every fairway and every green.

Kelly,

I agree, it was a great nine holes under extremely adverse conditions.

A great exhibit of great ball striking.

Jim Nugent,

At ANGC the excitement is in the players making eagles and birdies on the back nine.  The element of iminent danger vis a vis X's isn't there.

It's a different kind of theatre.

30+ mph winds and rough that is next to impossible, with narrow twisting, rolling fairways that feed into bunkers made Harrington's performance one of the great ones.

Had Tiger been there and done the same thing, it would have been deemed the greatest back nine in Open history.

Where's Rodney Dangerfield when you need him ?

[Jim Nugent]

I don't think tiger would have beat him this week so it is irrelevant whether Tiger was there or not.  Tiger was at Carnoustie last year, right?  Padraig is a great champion worthy of the highest accolades today.

Whether Tiger would have won is unknowable.  I don't think it's irrelevant when the world number one, who had won 4 of the last 6 events and something like 11 of the last 15, whose average score is around 1.5 strokes less per round than the next best player, is MIA.

Patrick, the 1986 Masters was still in question to the last hole.  This year it felt like Paddy had it in his pocket several holes earlier. 

The rough at Birkdale was sometimes impossible, sometimes not.   In watching about half of Norman's round, I saw him get several great lies when he pulled his driver 20 yards left of the fairway.  The rough was not a certain jail term. 

Paddy's final nine was incredible.  I wonder how it would have turned out if anyone had put pressure on him the last several holes?  That is the one missing element. 

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jim Nugent,

How quickly you forgot Jean Van De Velte.

As to pressure, who puts pressure on Tiger ?  Billy Mayfair and Rocco Mediate are the only two, in a decade, that come to mind.

[Dan Kelly]

his 5wood will be remembered as one of golfs greatest shots ever

Agreed.

I wonder: Will Harrington's shot save the reportedly doomed 17th green? Will the Royal (and/or Ancient) types countenance the destruction of the site of one of the Open Championship's greatest shots?

[JSlonis]

Jim Nugent,

How quickly you forgot Jean Van De Velte.

As to pressure, who puts pressure on Tiger ?  Billy Mayfair and Rocco Mediate are the only two, in a decade, that come to mind.

Pat,

Mayfair?  Did you mean Bob May?

Agree with those above.  Harrington's back nine was spectacular golf in brutal conditions.  I would think that when everyone has a chance to sort out the details of this tournament, the lack of Tiger, the surprising Shark, that Padraig's performance will elevate and be remembered for how great it really was.

[tlavin]

He was terrific.  The shots into the 17th and 18th green were superb and should have erased any idiot's view that Paddy somehow backed into the victory.  He earned it in every sense of the word.

As for his five-wood being remembered as one of the greatest shots in golf history?  Gimme a break!  It was nothing more than a terrific punctuation mark on four great rounds of golf by the defending champion.  I highly doubt that anybody will be talking about that shot in the future, except in the limited context of recounting this year's Open.  He didn't win the championship with the shot.  It didn't go in the hole.  It didn't kill his playing partner's chances of winning the championship.  It was simply a great shot by a great player that put the finishing touch on a terrific championship.  That, methinks, is not the stuff of history. 

[Mark Bourgeois]

Terry

I would argue the shot was more meaningful than Pavin's to the 72nd in 1995 US Open.  But I presume you don't remember that one!

Analogously yours,
Mark

[Brent Hutto]

I agree with Terry that the spectacular fairway wood approach on seventeen lacks the context to be up there with Sarazen's double-eagle or the other all-time memorable shots. It is certainly as fine a bit of ball-striking as I've seen but it didn't remotely decide the Championship.

Apparently on the BBC coverage when Harrington's iron shot flew over the flagstick on eighteen Peter Alliss said something like "Oh my, now he's just showing off". Same could really be said about the wood on seventeen, he was just putting on a clinic by that point.

[John_Conley]

Harrington's round yesterday was stellar, particularly the back.  Bravo Paddy.

It wasn't the only awesome golf Sunday.  Did you see this card?

Round 4 - Highland Springs CC 
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 OUT 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 IN TOT
Par 5 4 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 36 4 5 4 3 4 3 4 4 5 36 72
Rnd4  4 4 3 3 4 2 4 5 4 33 2 3 4 2 4 3 3 4 4 29 62
Status  -1 -1 -2 -2 -2 -3 -3 -3 -3 -- -5 -7 -7 -8 -8 -8 -9 -9 -10 -- -10

Colt Knost was the 54-hole leader on the Nationwide, then shot the day's low score of 62 to win by 4 with a round that included - seriously - back-to-back eagles.

The course played easy, but still...you normally don't see the leader shoot the day's low.

[tlavin]

Terry

I would argue the shot was more meaningful than Pavin's to the 72nd in 1995 US Open.  But I presume you don't remember that one!

Analogously yours,
Mark

This is akin to arguing about favorite colors, but there are a couple differences here.  Pavin's shot was to the final hole.  Harrington's was to the 71st.  Pavin won by two; Harrington by four.  In terms of memorability over the grand scale of history, Pavin's shot probably has more cachet.  Harrington's victory, however, is surely more significant because he defended his crown under the most trying of circumstances.

I remain, analogously yours.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Harrington won the open with a great back 9, or great back 6 -4. The pressure had eased by the time he was ready to play his 2nd into 17. The real pressure shot was the tee shot at 17, he was 2 ahead and the tee shot was the last real banana skin, its the tee shot here that makes the birdie really. Greatest open for a long time.