Padraig Harrington Rolls Back the Years at the Portugal Masters

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements

THE sheer gut-wrenching emotion of life as a European Tour professional was laid bare for all to see on an incredible final day at the Portugal Masters, the last regular event before the lucrative Final Series begins, with hundreds of thousands of euros on offer for those who make it.

Finish in the top 60 and progress to the Final Series and the lucrative Dubai World Championship. Finish between 61 and 110 and you get to do it all again next season, safe in the knowledge that you have kept your card.

For some, that was a formality, but for others it was case of teeing up under the most intense of pressure, knowing that their careers were on the line and that a trip back to qualifying school loomed, mixing it with the latest crop of bright young things with their lives in front of them.

None of that concerned Anders Hansen, Padraig Harrington and defending champion Andy Sullivan as they produced a thrilling duel for the title at Vilamoura. Twelve months ago, Hansen, from Denmark, announced that he was effectively retiring from tournament golf. The 46-year-old decided he'd had enough of the grind.

He wanted to spend more time at home with his wife and family. So he would play no more than five tournaments a year and he arrived in Portugal with no expectations, only to find himself leading after 54 holes. And when he birdied the fourth, fifth and sixth holes, it looked like he was coasting towards victory. But on a day when others were making birdies for fun, Hansen kept reeling off pars, and eventually he was caught, first by Sullivan and then by Harrington.

Harrington was looking for his first victory in Europe since 2008 and looked to be slipping out of contention when he struck a nine iron at the 11th into a greenside bunker. But he holed the shot and also birdied the next to join Sullivan and Hansen on 21 under. And when he also birdied the 14th, incredibly, the Irishman was 22 under and leading by one.

Harrington’s last four European Tour wins:

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???? 2016 Portugal Masters pic.twitter.com/VZPmw5FaDR

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 23, 2016

Sullivan was making a stout defence of his title. He birdied the first, second, fourth and fifth to turn in 31. Then came another birdie at the 12th and when he picked up yet another shot at the par-five 17th he had moved into a share of the lead with Harrington.

Ring rust was beginning to catch up with Hansen, who missed a short birdie putt at the 12th and could make nothing better than par, despite a series of putts that burned the edge of the hole. Playing with Harrington, he chose to lay up at the par five 17th when he could easily have reached the green in two. All he could manage was a par. The third member of the group was Mikko Korhonen, of Finland. His race appeared to have been run until he birdied the 12th and 16th, joining Hansen on 21 under.

When Harrington was winning majors, he had a look in his eyes - they called it 'the Harrington stare' - and it was in evidence again here. He missed the green with his second at the 17th but produced an exquisite chip to set up another birdie. In it went, and he was 23 under.

Up ahead, Sullivan hit his second shot at the final hole through the green and chipped up to four feet for a par putt that he simply had to hole, and he did so for a round of 65 and a 72-hole total of 262. So the equation was simple for Harrington - a par at the last would win the tournament, but he carved his drive right into the rough and then hit the grandstand with his second. Once again, however, he produced a fabulous chip from a horrible lie to leave a four-foot putt to win. With Sullivan looking on, Harrington holed the putt. And the eight-year wait was finally over.

"I haven't won yet this year, so I know the year is nearly done, it's always important to get a win every year, a winning year," Harrington said. "It's a big win. Portugal Masters is a big tournament. I've been coming here for ten years so I've always liked it down here. I've always liked coming down to Portugal.

"There's so many Irish people here. It always felt like a home away from home, so it's really nice to win the tournament. I tried to be really aggressive. The golf course suited me and I just tried to go after every pin I could and make birdies. I have a pretty good short game that was on form this week. No matter where I hit it, I felt like I could get it up and down."

Padraig Harrington is a winner again!#PortugalMasters https://t.co/CwVFjMWcDn

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 23, 2016

Korhonen and Hansen finished tie for third on 21 under, with Robert Rock, David Lipsky, Chris Paisley and Paul Lawrie one behind.

One of those who did enough to make the crucial top 110 was Oliver Fisher.  Knowing that only a good finish would do, Fisher finished with a round of 64 and an 18-under-par total of 266.

"It's tough coming into a week and knowing you have to play well to keep your playing rights," said Fisher. "You just have to try and focus and not think about what might happen. It is very difficult to keep going, and I am so pleased. I just hope that I can make a good start to next season so that I don't have to go through this again. Now I just want to take a little time off to relax."

On the other side of the coin, former French Open champion Graeme Storm bogeyed the last hole and walked off the green knowing that it had cost him his card. He had been in 109th place when he stood on the tee, but the dropped shot took him to 112th. Storm struggled to fight back the tears, fully aware of the implications. On any other week, he would have been happy to finish off with a 67 but his 15 under finish wasn't good enough.

Brett Rumford, another former tournament winner who has suffered some injury problems, also missed out. These are just two of the guys who now have tough decisions to make - do they go to qualifying school or do they accept that their race is run?

CIMB Classic

WINNING golf tournaments on the PGA Tour takes some doing. Achieving it once is something special, changing the life of the man who does it. Successfully defending a title is something else, about as rare as hen's teeth.

So take a bow Justin Thomas, who did precisely that at the CIMB Classic at  TPC Kuala Lumpur, thus confirming his status as one of the brightest prospects in the game.  He began the final round four shots behind India's Anirban Lahiri but shot a 64 to win by three. He had also finished his third round with five successive birdies. Thomas had 29 birdies in 72 holes, which was just three short of the PGA Tour record.

With his final five holes on Saturday and his bogey-free 64 on Sunday, Thomas collected 13 birdies in his final 23 holes of the CIMB Classic. The 23-year-old has pledged to donate $250 per birdie to those affected by Hurricane Matthew. His 29 birdies here combined with the 22 birdies and one eagle made at the Safeway Open brings the grand total to $13,000 in donations. His pledge will continue at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vOXzcgLYng

Thomas said: “It was obviously a fun day. It couldn't have happened if it wasn't for my finish yesterday. That was huge for me and put me in a good position to have a chance to win today. I definitely owe a lot of it to that.”

Lahiri's challenge ended at the par-five third hole, where he ran up a horrific nine after hitting his drive into a tree - the ball was never seen again. To his credit, he then birdied the fourth and eagled the fifth, but the damage had been done and he did well to keep his composure and finish the round on level par and 19 under for the tournament, four adrift of Thomas. HIdeki Matsuyama, of Japan, finished with a 66 and was second, three behind Thomas on 268, 20 under par.

Thomas felt for the Indian. “Anirban played well. He hit some really, really good putts that didn't go in, and you know, there's nothing for him to be down or upset about. Obviously he had a lead going into today but I think me shooting eight-under is going to help a little bit, if that makes sense.

“I played really well this week. I feel like I would have played a lot of courses really well but this place obviously suits my eye, and I think the fact that there's a lot of wedges and scoring clubs bodes well for me."

He only had one night to savour his success flying out to China for the WGC-HSBC Champions.