Harrington eyes maiden WGC crown
Padraig Harrington may not win a major this year but he would willingly settle for a first World Golf Championships title.
The three-time major winner will defend his US PGA Championship title at Hazeltine National next week after a season of toil while he modified his swing.
A return to form in Ohio, though, has left the Irishman in the halfway lead at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Harrington added a 69 last night to his opening 64 and leads the tournament by one stroke from South Africa’s Tim Clark, edging him closer to a first WGC title at an event in which he has previously failed to land a top-10 finish.
“I would like to win a World Golf event, yes,” Harrington said. “I think I would like to have that on my CV.
“Let’s be honest, you know, if it comes to comparing World Golf events to majors... I’d rather win another major than any World Golf event.
“But a World Golf event in itself is a big event. You’ve got all the best players playing. So yes, I think it would be very important to win one or some of them throughout my career.”
A big finish at Firestone Country Club followed by a good week at Hazeltine would also catapult Harrington into the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, allowing the Dubliner to play in the end-of-season FedEx Cup play-offs, which start later this month with the Barclays tournament at Liberty National in New Jersey.
Harrington was 142nd in the standings heading into this tournament but he refused to accept he should be embarrassed by his current position or the possibility of missing out.
“There’s no place for embarrassment on the golf course,” he said. “I would never, ever, no matter what.
“I know I’m trying 100%, so whatever my results are I can hold my head high and would never let that feeling. There was once I had it on the golf course, and it’s not a very nice feeling.
“At the end of the day it is only a game but no, I’m not in any shape or form embarrassed, but I’d be unhappy not to be in it.
“I never like missing out on things. I always like to qualify for everything and be in there.
“So yeah, I do want to play in the Barclays, there’s no doubt about it.” Harrington said winning a berth in the event would not be easy.
“It’s going to be difficult, too, because with competing events, like I moved quite substantially back during the Open. I made the cut there, didn’t have a great week, but I moved back a half a dozen spots, so it’s not easy.
“The bigger the events, these two events, it’s actually harder to move forward than in regular weeks.”
