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Harrington hopes new schedule leads to success
by TOM LaMARRE, Sports Xchange
That's why he was the only player in the top 50 in the World Golf Rankings to skip the WGC-CA Championship last week at Doral. Instead, he will play in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans beginning Thursday at TPC Louisiana before heading to the Shell Houston Open.
"My next target is obviously the Masters in April," Harrington wrote on his website recently. "I feel that I am at my best during the third week of a tournament run, as evidenced by playing two events before last year's Open Championship.
"Therefore, I decided not to play the WGC-CA Championship at Doral. ... Unfortunately, the tournament does not fit into my schedule as far as my build-up to the Masters is concerned, so I will play the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Shell Houston Open the two weeks immediately prior to this year's first major."
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Much in the way Phil Mickelson likes to play his way into major championships, Paddy learned last year when he won the Open Championship at Carnoustie that he is sharper when he competes leading into the Grand Slam events rather than take time off.
Lefty said he actually feels rusty on Thursdays if he has not played competitively the week before, and apparently it's similar for Harrington.
Last year, the Irishman tied for 31st in the Smurfit European Open two weeks before the Open Championship but didn't commit to the Barclays Scottish Open the following week at Loch Lomond — because it is not traditional links golf.
Feeling he needed to be more tournament tough heading to Carnoustie, he decided to play in the Irish PGA Championship on the PGA National Palmerstown House Course in County Kildare because it was links golf.
In conditions similar to what he would be playing the following week, Harrington got all the competition he wanted, winning in a playoff over Damien McGrane on the first extra hole. He then defeated Sergio Garcia in a four-playoff for the Open Championship and admitted he thought about that connection while at Carnoustie.
"There's no question, playing (the Irish PGA) definitely helped me," he said. "Just playing and getting used to the conditions."
Harrington's career goal was to join Fred Daly, who captured the 1947 Open at Royal Liverpool, as the only Irishmen to win a major golf championship. Now that he has done it once, he wants Irish eyes to be smiling again.
In fact, the hard-working Harrington — who rivals Vijay Singh for hours spent on the range — said that winning the Open has made him only work harder in trying to double his fun.
"Phil Mickelson got it right when he answered questions about when he was going to win a major by saying he wanted to win more than one," Harrington said of Lefty, who has won two more majors since getting that 0-for-42 monkey off his back.
"I've always had it in my head that I am going to try to do the same."
Harrington has played in New Orleans in each of the last two years with some success. He tied for 11th last year at English Turn and tied for ninth at TPC Louisiana the year before, breaking the par of 72 in eight consecutive rounds.
But, at this point, it's about getting ready.
"My season really kicks off in earnest now, and it is important to get myself tournament-ready by the time the Masters comes around," said Harrington, who tied for third in the Northern Trust Open at Riviera in February.
"(But) to be honest, if I was trying to focus totally on the first major, I wouldn't (have been) tinkering with the golf swing five weeks out. I am somewhat focused, but I'm focused on the whole year."
That would include his Open defense at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, in the middle of July.
Paddy admitted that the burden of being the Open champion and the mental hangover from all that followed affected his play the rest of the 2007 season, but now he embraces it.
"I've probably played about 20 events since I won the Open, and it's always nice being announced as the Open champion, there's no question about it," he said at Pebble Beach.
"Anytime anybody reminds me, I'm happy about that. I'll take that pat on the back every day and go with it. ... I've dreamed of winning (the oldest major) all my life, and I'm going to enjoy it when it's there."
Even if nobody said a word to him about his major victory or if Harrington got a case of temporary amnesia, he would get his own daily reminder at home outside of Dublin.
As the Open champion, he gets to keep the Claret Jug during the year of his reign, and it is displayed in a prominent place in the Harrington household.
"It sits on the breakfast table in my kitchen," he said. "Every morning I come down I open the kitchen door and I see it and I have my breakfast and it sits there. It seems like it's at home there."
But he'd like to give it some company.
Notes and quotes
Ogilvy made his only bogey on the seventh hole of the final round, snapping a string of 60 holes without a hiccup.
The Aussie did it with some remarkable putting, missing only three of 64 putts inside 10 feet over the 72 holes. Tiger Woods, who finished fifth, usually excels in that department, but last week he missed nine of 74 inside 10 feet.
Ogilvy became only the third player to win multiple titles in the World Golf Championships events. Ogilvy, who also won the 2006 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, joined Darren Clarke at two victories.
Woods, who was trying to win the CA event for the fourth consecutive year, has won 15 WGC events since the series began in 1999.
It was the first time that a Monday finish was required in the WGC series and the first Monday finish on the PGA Tour since Daniel Chopra came back for a fifth day last year to win the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
Peter Jacobsen, who is playing on the Champions Tour these days, was at a charity event with Palmer several years ago, and they were signing autographs for a crowd of fans.
Jacobsen scribbled his signature on a program for a fan, and Palmer happened to look over and see it.
"What the heck is that?" Palmer snorted.
"That's my autograph," a bewildered Jacobsen said.
"If someone is going to take their time to ask you to sign something, at least make it legible enough so people can tell who signed it," Palmer told him.
Jacobsen never forgot that and to this day signs his autograph so that it can be read easily.
Others have gotten the message.
"Peter Jacobsen got on me about my signature when I first got up here, and I know he did because Arnold got on him once," Joe Ogilvie said. "That's typical Arnold.
"Not only will he give thousands of autographs, but he wants each one of them to be readable. He cares that much about the fans."
Palmer signed hundreds of autographs, as he always does, during the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill two weeks ago.
And he passed on his opinion on autographs to other players, especially the younger ones.
"I don't know where a player comes off being asked to give an autograph and he scribbles something down there that you can't read," said Palmer, who pointed out that Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player also sign autographs that are legible.
"Well, who in the hell knows what it is? Why take the time to do it? Why not make it legible? If you're going to give an autograph, make it legible so that people know what the hell they have in their hand."
Palmer even goes beyond the pros.
Sam Saunders, his grandson, is a rising young golfer at Clemson, and Palmer already has read the riot act to the young man for blowing off an autograph-seeking fan with a quick scribble.
"I sat on him," Palmer said. "Now, when he gives an autograph, you can read it."
Last week on the practice green at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, Boo Weekley noticed a teenager watching him intently. So he brought the youngster onto the green for a putting contest that lasted about half an hour.
When it was over, Weekley dug a new ball out of his golf bag and carefully signed it for his new friend.
The King would have been proud.
The next day, with his clubs still missing, Oosthuizen learned he had a date in the first round with Tiger Woods.
"It should be great fun," said Oosthuizen, who is a product of Ernie Els' junior golf program in South Africa. "But I wish my clubs would arrive."
The 25-year-old Oosthuizen, who has won the South African PGA Championship the last two years, spent Monday and Tuesday practicing at Doral with borrowed clubs.
He has an equipment contract with Ping, and the company put together a set of replacement clubs just in case his did not arrive in time for his Thursday tee time.
"I've got to focus on my game, because I'll be looking at him the whole time," Oosthuizen said of playing with Woods for the first time. "I want to see how he handles himself, because that's the level we all want to get to."
Oosthuizen's clubs finally arrived at Doral on Wednesday night, giving him one less problem to worry about in his first round with the best golfer in the world.
After arriving in Miami, Oosthuizen went directly to his hotel, where he watched the last half-hour of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on television, including the remarkable 24-foot putt that Woods made to win the tournament.
"You would never bet against him to miss that putt," Oosthuizen said. "He's something else. People say that one of these days, the luck is going to turn. But I always remember Gary Player saying that the harder you practice, the luckier you get."
Oosthuizen played better than many others do in the eye of the Tiger, shooting 74-72 opposite Woods in the first round two rounds. He was 1-under-par through 14 holes in the first round before taking double bogeys on the 15th and 17th holes, and he made another double on No. 18 Saturday or he would have been under par.
Els, who lives much of the year at Wentworth outside London, said he will move his family to South Florida because of the warm weather and the care he can get for his 6-year-old son, Ben, who is autistic.
"For me to stay in England in the off-season is tough for me to do," Els said at the CA Championship. "I'm a guy from South Africa. I love the sun. I can't see myself sitting in the cold for three or fourth months. I don't like that.
"I've always been comfortable down here. The schools for Ben, especially ... there's really good stuff happening over here for him."
Els has been the most traveled of the top golfers in the world in this generation, although not quite in the mode of countryman Gary Player, but said at the start of this year that he is planning to cut down on the long trips across several time zones.
There has been speculation in recent years that part of the reason Els has not performed as well in recent years is because he is worn out from being on the go so much.
"I'll still go to Dubai," the three-time major champion said. "I still go, at the end of the year, overseas. I might put one or two more events into the schedule. I'll be closer to this side.
"All in all, I think it will be a good move."
Els has a home on the 16th hole of the West Course at Wentworth, which he helped renovate a few years ago and where he has won the World Match Play Championship seven times.
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