Major trio fail to find the necessary spark at Valhalla

The real marquee group, with 22 Major titles between them, drew the crowds like iron filings to a magnet. Under morning grey skies, the trio – Phil, Tiger and Paddy – gathered on the 10th tee to start their quests for the 96th US PGA Championship with elements of uncertainty and all searching for a spark of old.

After all, Messrs Mickelson, Woods and Harrington – a rare three-ball, who last featured in the same group in competition together in the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills – haven’t had too much to cheer about this year. Time to delve back into past glories, perhaps?

Woods, who underwent back surgery in March and suffered a different back injury during the Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday, has been a shadow of his old self.

Likewise Mickelson, without a top-10 all season, and Harrington, without a tour win since his 2008 US PGA Championship, were also hopeful that old, familiar faces would regenerate their games.

Final act

This, surely, was a perfect time for each player to spark off the other. It didn’t happen.

From Phil Mickelson’s opening tee shot on the 10th – “I hit the ugliest shot off the first hole,” he said of a slice that was so far left it was almost out-of-bounds – to the final act on the ninth hole, where Harrington made a trademark par save from a deep bunker, the opening round featured the good, the bad and the downright ugly; one or two frustrated expletives escaped from a frustrated Woods’s mouth, a little slamming of the clubs also errant shots.

The good? A chip-in on the 16th that had Woods raise his left arm with sand wedge to the skies, a knuckle punch from Harrington to Mickelson after both birdied the 12th and a near hole-out for an ace from Harrington on the eighth.

Out of it all, Mickelson – somehow – salvaged a 69, one-under. Harrington, who probably played the best of all, didn’t get the benefits on the scorecard and signed for a 73, two-over. As for Tiger? Having told us on Wednesday he was here to win, the 14-times Major champion opened with a 74, three-over. Some food for thought: in Woods’s 79 wins on the US Tour, he has never opened with a round to par worse than two-over!

“My swing was dialled in on that range. Unfortunately, I didn’t carry it to the golf course,” said Woods, after it was all over. “I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, and I didn’t get a putt to the hole. That’s not a good combo.”

Of how Woods played, Mickelson said: “I thought he played with a lot of heart. It’s not easy when your game isn’t where you want it, and you’re hitting shots that you don’t normally hit, to fight hard.”

Right things

Harrington felt that Woods looked rusty.

“He’s a man that looks like he needs to play some golf. No matter what, he needs to be out (playing). He looked kind of raw, just not enough rounds under his belt to score and do the right things,” observed the Dubliner.

For his own part, a downbeat Harrington felt that the round owed him more than he got. “I really didn’t get much out of it. Probably up until the last hole (sand save on the ninth), very much every hole was the worst I could’ve done at that hole. So it’s a little bit disappointing,” he said.

Ironically, Mickelson was the one who salvaged most from the play. At times, he missed greens and was left to use his lob wedge majesty; at other times, he literally had his back to trees and took the sensible option of punching back to safety.

Although he was the only one of the three to sign for a sub-par round, the start was still on his mind.

“I just need to get on the first tee with more confidence. When you are not in contention for a while, you get nervous and that is exactly what happened. I need to make confident, aggressive swings from the first hole,” said Mickelson.