Padraig gets break at last

Tour News: Nobody needs to remind Padraig Harrington that golf can be a curiously fickle mistress, after his win in the Barclays Championship at Westchester - by virtue of an improbable eagle putt measuring 65 feet 7 inches on the final green - returned the Irishman to the world's top 10 following a two-week absence.

His second victory of the season on the US Tour moved him to eighth place in the official world rankings and, in terms of timing, couldn't have been better, coming as it did just days before the Smurfit European Open at The K Club, which starts on Thursday.

Harrington returned home to Dublin yesterday for an emotional reunion with his father, Paddy, who has been unwell for a number of months. With a touch of fate, perhaps, the player's maiden PGA Tour win came on his father's birthday, when he won the Honda Classic back in March in a play-off over Vijay Singh and Joe Ogilvie. Two days later it was discovered his father's cancer had returned.

"He was given two weeks back in March, so it's good that he has managed one more win anyway . . . it's good that he has hung around this long," remarked the player of a victory in the Barclays that, after all the months of uncertainty in the close-knit family unit, finally brought them some reason for cheer.

In missing the cut at both the Booz Allen Classic at Congressional and the US Open at Pinehurst in the preceding two weeks, Harrington sneaked in a bit under the radar with fewer expectations than would normally be likely.

"With the family situation and the way I've been, I have been very hard on myself on the golf course. So, I decided to lighten up a bit and try to enjoy it more. If I'm going out to play, I might as well try my best and the best thing is to focus on my golf, focus on enjoying it. I always play better with a smile on my face rather than maybe like in the past few months, when I've been pretty tough on myself. That's the nature of things that happen, it's easy to get down on yourself."

The 33-year-old Dubliner became the sixth multiple winner on the US Tour this season, and his winning cheque for $1,035,000 moved him to ninth (from 27th last week) on the American money list with season's winnings of $2,288,406. It also moved him into the top 100 on the all-time US Tour career earnings (in 91st place) with $6,648,040.

Harrington overcame a three-stoke deficit with fives holes remaining to finish with a final round 70 for a 10-under-par 274 and a one-stroke win over Jim Furyk, who suffered back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th as he went in search of his first win since the Buick Open in 2003, a winless streak of 39 tournaments.

However, it all came down to the final green, where Harrington's eagle to Furyk's birdie was the decisive act. He became the first player since Craig Parry in last year's Ford Championship to win a tournament with an eagle on the final hole. On that occasion Parry holed out with his approach from the fairway.

This time, Harrington holed out with a double breaking putt of over 65 feet. As he appraised the putt, he got a mental image of a similar putt he had in last year's Irish PGA Championship at St Margaret's, which he won.

"I managed to roll that putt stone dead and this one was very similar . . . up and over, left-to-right and right-to-left. It was a good, positive image for me to have going up to the putt. You can't stand there and analyse it all day. It was very much (a case of) look at my target and go. I hit the putt pure, and it looked great."

Furyk, who to his credit was the first person over to congratulate Harrington, admitted to being "stunned" when the putt was holed. "I don't remember what exactly I was thinking. There was probably a couple of four-letter words in there somewhere. I think I was a little stunned. I had this golf tournament won, I felt, coming down the stretch. I opened the door and I let him in and he closed it. He just hit a fabulous putt. It went right in the centre, and there's nothing you can really do."

Harrington, though, demonstrated the importance of hanging in when the going gets tough. He had dropped three shots in his opening three holes only to resurrect his chances with an eagle on the ninth but then started the back nine with bogeys on the 11th and 12th to fall three behind again.

The momentum swung his way again when he birdied the 14th, got up and down from horrid rough on the 16th (when Furyk didn't), and then watched as the American uncharacteristically missed a short putt on the 17th before the decisive action took place on the 18th.

Although he had already qualified for the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii next January because of his success in the Honda, this win - for which Harrington received a newly commissioned Waterford Crystal trophy, the largest yet made by the Irish company for a US Tour event - sets him up well for the coming weeks, which involve three tournaments over the next four weeks in Europe. Starting with the European Open at The K Club, Harrington also takes in the British Open at St Andrews and the TPC of Europe in Germany.

In between, he will be part of the field at the JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare Manor next Monday and Tuesday, with the rest of the week spent practising on links courses in the build-up to St Andrews.

Harrington is part of a very strong Irish contingent at The K Club for a tournament that will carry a record prize fund of 3,338,288. Darren Clarke's presence in the field - he had not originally included it in his schedule - is a boost to the event, and he is sure to receive a warm welcome back to competition from players and spectators alike after putting golf aside for the past month to be with his wife, Heather, who is in an ongoing battle with cancer.

In all, there are 13 Irish players in the field: Harrington, Clarke, Paul McGinley, Graeme McDowell, Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Colm Moriarty, Stephen Browne, David Higgins, Philip Walton, Conor Mallon and Damien Mooney.

Tomorrow, on the eve of the tournament, Europe's Ryder Cup captain, Ian Woosnam, will name his vice-captain for next year's Ryder Cup match, which will also take place over the Palmer Course.

That role is widely expected to go to Des Smyth, currently enjoying a splendid season on the Champions Tour in the United States and playing in the Commerce Bank Championship in New York this week.