Riley proves he's got true grit in his game

Nobody needs to tell Padraig Harrington that you get nothing for nothing. All through his professional career he has battled and grinded to get the most out of his ability and, for much of his first round match with US Ryder Cup player Chris Riley over the West Course yesterday, it must have seemed as if he was looking at a mirror-image, another player unafraid to graft for whatever morsels could be collected.

"You know," said the Dubliner, "Chris is tough. He's a gritty competitor. I'd love to have made a few more putts, not to have made many mistakes and to be really taking the game to him. But, in saying that, no matter what I have done, he just doesn't let go. He's sticking in there, doing his own thing and playing his own game."

Indeed, when their match was prematurely halted because of fading light, they were locked together just as they had been when they'd sent their opening tee-shots through the murky greyness down the first fairway some eight hours earlier. The match stood all square, with four holes to be completed today.

For Harrington, whose first call after reaching the clubhouse was to have a half-hour's physiotherapy on his neck in what he called a "standard procedure", the match has been transformed from a marathon into a sprint.

"It makes it very quick," he conceded. "I'd much rather have a 36-hole contest than a four-hole contest. But, you know, it's the same for both of us."

When Riley asked his captain, Hal Sutton, to be stood down on the second afternoon of the Ryder Cup in Detroit last month because he was "too tired", much was made of his request. Some questioned his heart, his appetite for the fight. Yesterday, in a way, Riley gave his own answer as he refused to let Harrington get away from him. Not only that, but in the afternoon play he forced the Dubliner to show his own grit.

"If I'd took all my opportunities I wouldn't be too worried about the fact he is a gritty competitor," said Harrington. "But I'm very comfortable with the way I played. I hit a lot of iron shots into the greens where I was aiming for them to go. I wanted to play the last four holes. I wanted to go down the 15th because I felt good about my game.

"Having played 32 holes, there's a certain familiarity with what you're going to feel like on the next tee. Now, you're into a situation where you have to warm up in the morning and start again, and there are three tough drives on the last four holes. I felt I was hitting the ball well and it will be hard to restart. I've got to go out and do it all over again, and anything can happen over four holes."

Yesterday, Harrington got off to a fast start and was two up after four holes, thanks to an eagle on the fourth where he holed from 18 feet. By the turn, though, he was only one up. And Riley's willingness to wait a full 25 minutes on the ninth green until a member of the greenkeeping staff arrived with a squeegee to roll surface water off the green showed his commitment to the cause.

"It was funny. By the time the squeegee came out the green had dried up. But we were being held up badly at that stage."

And, after 11 holes, it was back to all square. A chip-in eagle on the 17th gave Harrington a one-hole cushion at the interval.

Riley went ahead for the first time in the match when Harrington missed an eight-footer for his par on the sixth (the 24th hole). It was back to all-square two holes later when Harrington sank a six-foot birdie putt. When Harrington hit a six-iron tee-shot to six feet for a birdie on the 10th, it gave the Dubliner the lead again, only for Riley to birdie the 13th and leave them level-pegging for today's resumption.

WorldMatchplay: How they stand

(1) Ernie Els (Rsa) 2 up on (16) Scott Drummond (Sco) (after 34 holes)

(8) KJ Choi (Kor) 1 down to (9) Angel Cabrera (Arg) (33)

(5) Padraig Harrington (Ire) level with (12) Chris Riley (USA) (32)

(4) Mike Weir (Can) level with (13) Thomas Levet (Fra) (32)

(3) Retief Goosen (Rsa) bt (14) Jeff Maggert (USA) 12 and 11

(6) Todd Hamilton (USA) 3 down to (11) Lee Westwood (Eng) (29)

(7) Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) level with (10) Steve Flesch (USA) (26)

(2) Vijay Singh (Fij) 2 down to (15) Bernhard Langer (Ger) (26)