FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Padraig Harrington found a way to take some of the attention away from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on Thursday.
Harrington made six birdies on the tough back nine of Bethpage Black and opened the FedEx Cup playoffs with a 7-under-par 64 for a oneshot lead at The Barclays, and surely that grabbed the attention of Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal.
Harrington has to rely on a captain’s pick to make his seventh consecutive European team, and that looks to be unlikely. Not only has the threetime major champion gone four years without winning against a strong field, he and Olazabal aren’t the best of friends after a dispute at the Seve Trophy from nine years ago.
The Irishman had the toughest time Thursday after he got off the difficult Black course. There were so many questions about the Ryder Cup, his chances of making the team and what he has to do to impress Olazabal that at one point Harrington adopted the American way.
“The only answer I can give at this stage is I’m pleading the Fifth Amendment on that one,” Harrington said. “I honestly don’t know what to say. I don’t want to go in there and try too desperately to beg for a pick, or I don’t want to go in there and give excuses for anything. I’ll just leave it be what it is. I’m just going to play golf.”
That part was superb on a calm day that became increasingly warm.
It took Harrington a few holes to realize that he was back at Bethpage Black, but not at the U.S. Open. The greens were soft. The rough was deep, but not terribly dense. The pressure was not quite the same, and par wasn’t going to cut it.
He came to life on the back nine with four consecutive birdies to cap his 64, giving him a one-shot lead over Nick Watney and Brian Harman among the early starters. The hotter it became, the crustier the greens were. It was unlikely anyone would catch him, and no one did.
Sergio Garcia was part of the group at 66, while defending champion Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, both trying to make their own impression as potential picks by U.S. captain Davis Love III, were in the group at 67.
There were 73 players from the 123-man field at par or better, not the kind of scoring associated with Bethpage Black.
Thousands of fans chased after Woods and McIlroy, in the marquee group based on their standing in the FedEx Cup with Woods at No. 1 and McIlroy at No. 3. Both of them got off to a reasonable start.
Woods scrambled nicely to recover from a few errant shots and scratched out a 68. McIlroy smashed one driver after another to set up short irons into the greens, and while he had three birdies through six holes, he let the good start get away from him and settled for a 69.
If this is a rivalry, it figures to be a friendly one. Woods genuinely likes this 23-yearold from Northern Ireland, who already has two eightshot victories in the majors.
“He’s a nice kid, he really is,” Woods said. “As I said yesterday, I played with him in Abu Dhabi. We struck up a friendship back then, and it’s continued. I think it’s only going to get better.”
Woods won the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in 2002, and he tied for sixth when the U.S. Open returned to this public course on Long Island in 2009. It looks the same, especially how the rough frames each fairway, and while there were differences in the softness of the greens and hole locations, the most obvious difference was scoring.
“I shot 3 under par and I’m not even in the top 10,” Woods said. “So it’s a little different deal.”
Harrington was even par through four holes, typically not a bad score, except that he watched Troy Matteson open with a birdie on the second hole and chip in for eagle on the fourth to reach 3 under early in the round.
“It definitely helped me cross that divide between thinking I’m at a U.S. Open and level par is going to be the winning total this week,” Harrington said. “This is much more of a sprint. You’re going to need to be 12 under par at the end of the week, or who knows, but it ain’t going to be level par.”
Harrington would figure to face a different kind of pressure — getting on the Ryder Cup team — but he found a certain peace after realizing he couldn’t earn his way onto the team after the PGA Championship. Even though Europe’s team is not finalized until after this week, ranking points from The Barclays don’t count.
So he’s out, unless he wins.
RESULTS
The Barclays
At Bethpage State Park,
Black Course
Farmingdale, N.Y.
Purse: $8 million
Par 71, 7,468 yards
First of four rounds
64 (-7)
Padraig Harrington .............35-29
65 (-6)
Nick Watney ........................32-33 Brian Harman ......................33-32
66 (-5)
Pat Perez .............................34-32 Sergio Garcia .......................33-33 Gary Christian .....................31-35 Jimmy Walker .....................33-33
67 (-4)
George McNeill ...................33-34 K.J. Choi ..............................33-34 Dustin Johnson ...................34-33 Jonas Blixt ...........................32-35 Rickie Fowler .......................35-32 Justin Rose .........................35-32
68 (-3)
Greg Owen ..........................34-34 William McGirt ....................34-34 Troy Matteson .....................33-35 Phil Mickelson .....................34-34 Luke Donald ........................33-35 Tiger Woods ........................34-34 Zach Johnson .....................33-35 Chris Kirk ............................35-33 Ian Poulter ...........................34-34 Vijay Singh ..........................32-36 John Senden .......................34-34 Ernie Els ..............................33-35
69 (-2)
Ryan Moore ........................35-34 Lee Westwood ....................35-34 Steve Stricker ......................34-35 Rory McIlroy .......................37-32 Kevin Streelman ..................34-35 Colt Knost ............................35-34 Tom Gillis ............................34-35 Bob Estes ............................35-34 Jeff Maggert ........................32-37
70 (-1)
Adam Scott .........................35-35 Louis Oosthuizen ................35-35 Harris English ......................36-34 Will Claxton .........................37-33 Bryce Molder .......................36-34 David Hearn ........................35-35 Jason Day ...........................38-32 Greg Chalmers ....................33-37 Geoff Ogilvy .........................35-35 Tim Clark .............................34-36 Brandt Snedeker .................33-37 Martin Laird .........................36-34 Bubba Watson .....................34-36 Bo Van Pelt ..........................34-36 John Huh .............................35-35 Tommy Gainey ....................36-34 Rod Pampling .....................33-37
71 (E)
Martin Flores .......................34-37 Blake Adams .......................38-33 Sean O’Hair .........................34-37 J.J. Henry ............................35-36 Jonathan Byrd .....................37-34 Keegan Bradley ...................33-38 Johnson Wagner .................36-35 Bill Haas ..............................35-36 Kyle Stanley .........................34-37 Ricky Barnes .......................36-35 Brian Gay .............................35-36 Chris Stroud ........................35-36 J.B. Holmes .........................36-35 Michael Thompson .............35-36 Charles Howell III ................34-37 Seung-Yul Noh ....................36-35 Jim Furyk ............................34-37 Bud Cauley ..........................35-36 Webb Simpson ...................36-35 Fredrik Jacobson ................33-38 Charl Schwartzel .................35-36 Billy Mayfair ........................32-39
72 (+1)
Scott Stallings .....................36-36 Aaron Baddeley ...................36-36 John Rollins ........................36-36 Brian Davis ..........................35-37 Matt Kuchar ........................35-37 John Mallinger ....................36-36 David Toms .........................36-36 Kevin Stadler .......................37-35 Jeff Overton .........................36-36 Ken Duke .............................35-37 Ben Crane ............................35-37 Josh Teater ..........................36-36 Kevin Chappell ....................36-36
73 (+2)
D.A. Points ..........................36-37 Robert Allenby ....................37-36 John Merrick .......................37-36 Kevin Na ..............................37-36 Ben Curtis ............................36-37 Hunter Mahan .....................36-37 Carl Pettersson ...................37-36 Robert Garrigus ..................37-36 Henrik Stenson ...................36-37 James Driscoll ....................38-35
74 (+3)
Ted Potter, Jr. ......................36-38 Scott Piercy .........................35-39 Dicky Pride ..........................37-37 Daniel Summerhays ...........37-37 Brendon de Jonge ...............34-40 Troy Kelly .............................37-37 Heath Slocum .....................37-37
75 (+4)
Rory Sabbatini ....................36-39 Matt Every ...........................35-40 Ryan Palmer .......................39-36 Graeme McDowell ..............39-36 Harrison Frazar ....................38-37 Cameron Tringale ................39-36 Charlie Wi ............................38-37 Mark Wilson ........................36-39 Graham DeLaet ...................38-37 Trevor Immelman ...............39-36
76 (+5)
Roberto Castro ....................40-36 Jerry Kelly ...........................39-37 Davis Love III ......................36-40
77 (+6)
Marc Leishman ...................40-37 Charley Hoffman .................37-40 Chad Campbell ....................37-40
78 (+7)
Boo Weekley .......................38-40 Jason Bohn .........................40-38
79 (+8)
Andres Romero ...................39-40
81 (+10)
Sang-Moon Bae ..................38-43
Sports, Pages 17 on 08/24/2012