Harrington fills Tiger void with PGA win

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MICH. - The 90th PGA Championship dealt with weather suspensions, small crowds, the absence of Tiger Woods and three days of uninspiring leaderboards.

The stately old track, Oakland Hills, spent 2 1/2 days being excessively dry and the rest of the weekend being sopped.

This was as forgettable as a grand slam event can get until midafternoon on this cold, gray Sunday, and then high drama started taking shape between Sergio Garcia, looking for his first major, and Padraig Harrington, looking for his second in a row, and Ben Curtis, proudly wearing the colors of the Detroit Lions, among the least prideful organizations in American sports.

In the end, it was Harrington, with more of his masterful clutch putting, taking advantage of mistakes by both playing partner Garcia and by Curtis in the trailing group, to finish with a two-stroke victory.

Harrington now is 2-0 in the majors played without Tiger and the great man's surgically repaired knee, and the folks with only a cursory appreciation of golf probably are saying Paddy's victories deserve asterisks.

Not a chance.

Last month, in the howling winds of Royal Birkdale, he finished with a 32 on the back nine to win his second consecutive Open Championship.

And on Sunday, he arrived before dawn with the other 49 players required to complete their storm-delayed third rounds before they could start the fourth.

Harrington had nine holes left from Saturday. He made four birdies on Oakland Hills' treacherous back nine and shot his favorite number -- 32. He finished with a 4-under 66 and went from also-ran status to 1 over and a place in the second-to-last threesome.

What did he have left for the fourth round? Another 66, another 32 on the back nine and another major championship. He won his first major in the 2007 British Open by beating Garcia in a playoff. This late-summer streak gives him three of the past six majors.

When a player posts a pair of 66s on a Sunday at windy, mushy, monstrous Oakland Hills, no one in the universe is going to beat him.

Harrington made four birdies in the last six holes to complete his third round Sunday morning. Then he made six more birdies in the final round.

Ten birdies over the last 24 holes at Oakland Hills ... Tiger himself would've been proud to play as well.

"This was a different win than at Birkdale," he said. "I was very comfortable with my game there. Here, it wasn't the case. I wasn't happy with how I was swinging the club this week."

Harrington said he wasn't sure whether it was a lack of focus, or dehydration, or tiredness that had him feeling out of sorts during his 71-74 start to the tournament on Thursday and Friday.

Whatever, he said: "My coordination wasn't quite there."

Harrington started the final round even with Garcia at 1 over, three shots behind leader Curtis. Sergio lit up the front nine with a 31 and Harrington found himself trailing by three.

"The only thing I knew from experience is that in a major nobody goes without making mistakes," he said. "As long as I hung in there, I knew I would get my opportunity."

It gives a real boost to opportunity when you're a tremendous clutch putter.

Harrington made an 18-footer for birdie at No. 10. He made a 15-footer for birdie at No. 13.

"My eye was in at this stage," he said. "And the putts, there was no question I was just fully focused on holing them."

He saved par with a 20-footer at No. 16. He made a 10-footer for birdie (as Garcia missed a four-footer) to take the lead at No. 17.

And then he was looking at a 15-footer to close with a par on the ferocious 18th. If it dropped, Garcia was done and a major on American soil would belong to this hot-handed Irishman.

"It's nice when you've got to hole a putt that you see the line right away," Harrington said. "It was an easy putt to read. It was a double-break. I hit it a cup right of the hole ...

"I knew the pace was about right. I wanted to see it break. I was just saying, 'Go on, keep going, keep going, break.' It broke right, left, and got just inside the left half, and dropped very nice."

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com