Scotland Sunday Herald: Quadruple bogey puts paid to the Paddy slam

US Masters: Harrington challenge fades after nine on par-five second hole, writes Art Spander

PADRAIG HARRINGTON'S slim hope of winning a third straight major championship perished on a hole with the benign name of Pink Dogwood. The Irishman, who won both the Open Championship and American PGA Championship in 2008 and was one of the favourites in the Masters, took a quadruple-bogey nine yesterday on the 575-yard par-5 second hole of Augusta National.

That after his misfortune on Friday, when, having grounded his putter on the green of another par-5 hole, the 15th, with a good chance for a birdie, he watched as a swirling wind moved the ball and he was charged a stroke.

But yesterday it was Padraig, not nature's whims, which did him in. The green of the second, after a long drive, often can be reached in two. Harrington, though, reached it in seven.

He pulled his drive deep into the pines but had good lie. The second shot ricocheted off a tree trunk and plopped into a bush, from which Harrington could not extricate himself and therefore took a penalty drop.

His fourth hit the same tree as his second. His fifth barely made it out of the woods. The next shot was short of the green. Then he chipped on and two-putted.





That, however, was the only over-par hole on the front nine for Padraig, if indeed four-over par, and with the help of three birdies, on five, eight and nine, he still managed a one-over 37.

Rory McIlroy, the 19-year-old Ulsterman, had his troubles on Friday, closing with a double-bogey 5 on 16 and a triple-bogey 7 on 18 and then nearly being disqualified over a possible rules breach.

But for the third-round yesterday, McIlroy, in his first Masters, shot a one-under 71 for a 54-hole score of even-par 216. In his agonising second round, McIlroy, temporarily in sixth place, four-putted the par-3 16th. At 18, in the midst of making the triple, he left a shot in a bunker then kicked at the sand with his right foot, which immediately prompted a BBC analyst to wonder whether he had violated a rule prohibiting players from testing the sand.

Brought back to the club around 8.40pm, after a committee of rules officials had viewed a video tape, McIlroy, having already been questioned on the phone, explained in person he had not kicked the sand in anger but only as par of housekeeping.

The Rules of Golf (13-4) allow "the player to smooth sand or soil in the hazard after making a stroke provided that, with regard to his next stroke, nothing is done to improve the position or lie of his ball". McIlroy, whose 72-73-145 was right on the cut line, said he never feared he would be disqualified. "No,'' he told the BBC, "because I was confident that I hadn't done anything wrong. I think they just needed an opinion from myself. I don't think it was that big a deal.'' More than 40 years ago, 1967 to be exactly, Arnold Palmer, then still a force, similarly left a ball in a bunker but in anger slammed his wedge into the sand. Officials were going to assess him a stroke for the action, but Augusta has always been kind to Arnie and officials decided "he was not testing the hazard since he already had taken a swing'', and retracted the penalty.

Sandy Lyle yesterday looked more like the 51-year-old he is, with a one-over 37 on the front nine, than the golfer who on Friday ran off five straight birdies, holes 13 through 17, which gave him a 32 on the back nine and a two-under-par 70. "Even when you play well it is still hard work,'' said Lyle, winner of the 1988 Masters, "and under-par is nerve-wracking. I was hoping to get through Amen Corner and knew I could pick up shots on par-5s, but I didn't expect to finish like I did."

Ross Fisher's ride was interesting if unsteady. The Englishman began with a three-under 69 and then as might be expected in his debut Masters, came back with a four-over 76. He improved a bit yesterday with a 73 but is at two-over 218.

"I gave myself chances," Fisher said of his experience. "You get good looks on the greens, but I just couldn't get the speed." Tiger Woods, a four-time Masters champion, was saying virtually the same thing. But at least, unlike the last couple of years, the weather is pleasant and the roars for birdies noticeable.

Another Englishman, Luke Donald had the honor Friday of playing with Gary Player in the last round of his 52nd and final Masters. The 73-year-old, who stopped and knelt at the edge of the 18th green as he closed out his Masters career, had an 83 for 161. Four years ago, Donald was in the grouping with Jack Nicklaus at St Andrews when Jack bowed out of the Open championship. "I'm not sure why I keep getting picked," said Donald. "Maybe I'm the nice guy." Donald enjoyed himself, even though he just made the cut with an even-par 144.

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