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Until a triple bogey on No. 16, Padraig Harrington (left) was a worthy opponent for Tiger Woods in the final round at Firestone.
Aug. 10, 2009
Each Monday, the Backspin will provide insight and analysis on the latest results, happenings and news on the PGA TOUR. We welcome your feedback; click here to let us know what you think!
What are our writers thinking about after the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open? Tiger Woods' stunning victory, naturally, plus John Rollins' move in the Presidents Cup standings and two rules incidents at Firestone.
AS 'WOODS' AS IT GETS: Wow. You could say that about how Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, or about how Padraig Harrington lost it (more on the latter below). Whether Woods was 178 yards out (which is what Woods said he had) or 182 yards (what David Feherty had him at) on No. 16, his 8-iron approach was as good as it gets, arguably the shot of the year.
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Trailing by a shot, Woods provided another highlight-reel moment at a tournament he's now won seven times by riding that 8-iron every bit of those 178 or 182 yards, almost all of which at the end -- save for about three strides -- was covered by water. Already feeling hurried and uncomfortable, Harrington looked a lot like Tom Watson once the British Open started slipping away from him. Harrington's approach from an awkward stance hopped off the back of the green and he took less than 30 seconds to hit his next shot. It should have been a delicate pitch, but he bladed the shot and it sailed into the water.
If you're a glass-half-full person, this was all Woods all the time, ratcheting up the temperature a few more degrees on a hot and humid day in Akron, beginning with that front-nine 30. If you're a glass-half-empty person, it was that "c" word by Harrington. I tend to lean toward the former. While Harrington felt hurried once they were put on the clock, Woods never did and never does. -- Brian Wacker
HONORABLE MENTION: The World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational showcased two things that are good about the game. One incident involved Tim Clark on Saturday; the other Padraig Harrington on Sunday.
Clark wasn't sure he had replaced his ball properly on the 16th green after moving it so Padraig Harrington had a clear line when he putted. Neither of the caddies nor the Irishman could remember, either, so Clark raised the issue when he finished.
He and PGA TOUR Tournament Director Slugger White looked at the CBS tape and determined Clark had acted incorrectly. He was assessed a two-stroke penalty for a 73 that moved him from a tie for third to a tie for 14th .
"The good thing about it is that I called it on myself," Clark said. "That sort of saved some integrity for me."
Harrington's situation was a little different. He and Tiger Woods were put on the clock just before they teed off on the 16th hole Sunday and he admitted he rushed several shots, though refused to make excuses for the triple bogey he made.
"The players make the rules and we've got to apply them," Harrington said. -- Helen Ross
PADDY VS. TIGER: I hope Padraig Harrington is back to his major championship ways. I hope that his performance last week at Firestone was not just a temporary respite from the struggles he's endured since making changes to his swing after winning the PGA Championship a year ago.
And I hope he'll be competitive this week as he defends his title at Hazeltine.
Not only is Harrington one of the most interesting and thoughtful guys on the PGA TOUR, he also seems willing to embrace a toe-to-toe battle with Tiger Woods on the back nine Sunday. Golf needs that. Golf needs someone to make Tiger sweat. For several years now, we've asked -- perhaps unfairly -- Phil Mickelson to shoulder much of that load; hopefully we can count on Harrington to assume such a role too.
It was fun to watch on Sunday (well, up until Harrington's snowman on the 16th hole). A Harrington-Woods duel would be fun to watch for many years. I hope that's the case. -- Mike McAllister
ROLLINS ON A ROLL: John Rollins narrowly missed playing in the 2007 Presidents Cup and 2008 Ryder Cup, and he doesn't want to miss out on Harding Park this fall.
Rollins knows he's still got a lot of work to do to make The Presidents Cup team, but the newly crowned winner of the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open has it on his radar heading into the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Rollins moved from 33rd to 20th in the standings with the victory, but he knows time is running out to make the team outright. His best shot might be as a captain's pick.
"Granted, it's going to take a big week next week at the PGA for points or things like that to have any kind of chance," Rollins said. "I hope that my last couple weeks -- tie for eighth, and now, a victory -- (Captain Fred Couples) is kind of looking at it as possibly a guy that's getting hot and would feel that I'd be a good addition to the team." -- Ryan Smithson
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| Road to THE TOUR Championship |
Is there any question as to what the shot of the week was last week as we move toward THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola? Trailing by a shot and with the tournament hanging in the balance, Tiger Woods hit maybe the shot of year with an 8-iron from just inside 180 yards to within inches of the cup to set up a tap-in birdie on the 16th hole at Firestone. It was just another highlight-reel moment for the FedExCup leader.
What do you think was the best shot of the week? Cast your vote here and check in each week on the Road to the TOUR Championship. -- Brian Wacker |
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| Stock up |
Stewart Cink: One of only two players to shoot all four rounds in the 60s last week at Firestone, there doesn't appear to be any sort of British Open hangover for Cink. Will he pull a Paddy and win the year's final two majors? It's not out of the question.
FedExCup rank: 14 (16 last week) |
Steve Stricker: Five birdies in his first 11 holes Sunday moved Stricker into the edge of contention at Firestone and gave him some good momentum heading to Hazeltine. There's no reason to think he won't contend at the PGA.
FedExCup rank: 2 (2 last week) |
John Rollins: On one hand, Rollins won in Reno and tied for eighth in Michigan the week before. On the other, Reno was an alternate-field event and the Buick Open was a birdie fest. Still, results are results and Rollins is playing some good golf right now.
FedExCup rank: 20 (33 last week) |
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| Stock down |
Sean O'Hair: The first five months of the season, O'Hair had a win at the Quail Hollow Championship and five top-10s. Since then? He's 26 over in 25 rounds, including an 11-over total at Firestone, where he finished in a tie for 70th in the 79-player field.
FedExCup rank: 9 (9 last week) |
Sergio Garcia: This is right about the time that Garcia got hot last year, finishing second in three of his last five events. Just don't see that happening again this year. He continues to struggle with the putter and his iron play has been very inconsistent.
FedExCup rank: 71 (78 last week) |
Ricky Barnes: Chalk up that week at the U.S. Open as one of those rare moments in golf that simply comes out of nowhere. Barnes hadn't done much before it, and he hasn't done much since with missed cuts in each of his last three events and a tie for 59th his best result since Bethpage.
FedExCup rank: 139 (128 last week) |
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| A Quick 18 |
| Front Nine | Back Nine |
| "I don't understand why we were put on the clock considering that he ended up taking a penalty drop from all the way on the other side of the lake, coming back, we hit out tee shots on 17 and the guys were just walking off the tee on 18." -- Tiger Woods on the strangeness that was No. 16 Sunday. | Big-hitting Alvaro Quiros was putting on quite a show on the driving range at Firestone last week, blasting one shot after another into the net at the back of the range some 280 yards away with a 1954 MacGregor Tourney M85 persimmon driver. The Spaniard can crush the ball, and he's going to be a star someday. |
| Woods makes an excellent point. As Padraig Harrington said, rules are rules, but this is certainly one finish that's going to be talked about for a long, long time. And Woods was right that Harrington looked extremely hurried, uncomfortably so in fact. | Quote of the Week: "Yes, why not. Yeah. I should do it now. I'm 26. If I don't do it now, when I'm going to do it? I'm not going to come back to America if it's not my home at 35. So it would be a good idea to come now." -- Quiros talking about what sounds like a decision to join the TOUR in the near future. He's currently a non-member and has played just eight events here this year. |
| One last take from Tiger on the clock situation: "I think being on the clock influenced him. I'm sure he would have taken a lot more time on his third shot to try to figure out how to play it. On the flop shot, he had to get in there quickly and hit it. I think rushing like he had to that it forced him to make a couple mistakes." | Adam Scott rebounded nicely from a 78 in the first round with a 67 in the second round, but he continues to have a mostly abysmal year. That's going to put Greg Norman in an interesting spot with his fellow Aussie sitting 13th in the International team standings. I don't see how you pick Scott, though. |
| Woods is now just the second player in history (Sam Snead was the other) to win an event at least seven times. Four of Woods' victories at Firestone have been of the come-from-behind nature, and in 10 starts there he now has seven wins, a tie for second and two fourth-place finishes. And we have a few less superlatives. | Big week for golf's possible inclusion into the 2016 Summer Olympics. On Thursday, the International Olympic Committee executive board will recommend two of the seven sports -- including golf -- for 2016. Be sure to check out our Olympic page for full coverage. |
| Are the stars aligned for Woods to run the table? They sure seem like it, and he's done it before, having won his last six events of the 2006 season. Woods played well the last time the PGA was at Hazeltine and is certainly capable of sweeping through the Playoffs with the way he's hitting it right now. | There's no such trouble with Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda, where four former Gitmo detainees are being put to work to prepare the course for the Grand Slam of Golf later this year. The men were held in Guantanamo Bay for roughly seven years following their capture in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001, according to a wire report. |
| One step back, two steps forward. That's the approach Harrington has taken with his swing changes, which finally seem to be taking hold. It goes a lot deeper than that, though, for one of golf's hardest workers, and The Sunday Times had an excellent in-depth look at Harrington and the ups and downs of it all. | According to an article in TIME, President Obama is hard at work at his golf game, though the first golfer is not one to cut corners, having reportedly written a 10 and an 11 on his scorecard before. You can't say that about some past Presidents. Click here for the complete story. |
| Speaking of ups and downs, the year has been mostly down for Robert Allenby with just two top-10s prior to last week. A trip to Firestone seems to cure all, though. He was one of two players to shoot four rounds in the 60s on his way to a tie for second and his eighth career top-25 finish in the event. | Michelle Wie finally appears to be blossoming into the talented young player everyone thought she would be. Part of that is the natural maturation process, part of that is Wie's parents giving her more freedom. Wie was in the news this week first for making the Solheim Cup team, then for throwing out the first pitch at the Braves-Dodgers game Saturday night in L.A. |
| And speaking of guys who change their swing, Parker McLachlin can relate to Harrington, saying last week about his 2008 Reno win, "'Your swing can't be that bad. You just won by seven shots.' Well, I would have won by 10 or 11 if I would have actually swung the golf club where I could hit more than four greens on 18 holes on Sunday."
| Tweet of the Week: "NotahBegay3 @ the hospital watching my wife nurse our baby boy! Santiago Ryan Begay was born 952pm, 8lbs 7oz, 21inches. Mom n baby doin grt!!" -- Notah Begay, late last Wednesday night, "tweeting" about the birth of the couple's first child. |
| Danny Lee, who tied for 51st at 6 over at Firestone last week and who has struggled of late, has had trouble identifying the good and bad advice in his rookie season. One piece of advice he's trying to stick to, though, comes from Gary Player, who told Lee to trust his swing and said that he doesn't need to change anything. The bigger difficulty is learning the courses. | Arnold Palmer will turn 80 next month and it's pretty amazing the impact he still has. Signing autographs at Baltimore Ravens training camp a couple of weeks ago, safety Ed Reed told SI's Peter King, "I try to make it legible. I learned that from Arnold Palmer. I was watching the GOLF CHANNEL once and Arnold Palmer came on and was talking about autographs. He said, 'Make sure people can read it so they remember you.'" |
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| The Forward Spin |
As Tiger Woods put it a couple of weeks ago, the PGA Championship is the last chance for anyone to win a major championship this year.
The biggest "anyone", of course, is Woods, who is 0-for-3 in majors this year, but he's coming into Hazeltine on the heels of back-to-back wins. Woods also finished second the last time the PGA took place at Hazeltine, in 2002 when Rich Beem held off Woods by a stroke despite four straight birdies at the end by the world's No. 1 player.
Last year, Woods missed the PGA Championship because of season-ending knee surgery. That opened the door for Padraig Harrington, of course, who will try to defend with swing changes that appear to have finally taken hold. He was paired with Woods on Sunday at Firestone, and the two will play together again in the first two rounds at Hazeltine.
This is also one of the last shots for those trying to get into the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup with the top 125 advancing to The Barclays in two weeks. It might be the final chance to win a major, but there's a lot more at stake than that this week. |
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PGATOUR.COM's Brian Wacker wrote Stock Up, Stock Down, Quick 18 and Forward Spin.
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