Can Harrington win third straight major?
While everyone focuses on a potential Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson showdown this weekend at the Masters, and those two Americans – with their six combined green jackets – are the two big WagerWeb.com favorites to win, no one seems to be talking about Northern Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.
You know, the guy who has won the past two majors and is halfway to a Tiger Slam? Yet Harrington is just +1385 to win at Augusta this week on WagerWeb.com – hey, at least he’s the odds-on favorite among Great Britain and Ireland players!
OK, Harrington’s detractors will say the he won last year’s British Open and PGA Championship because Tiger wasn’t around due to injury – but Paddy did also win the 2007 British Open when Woods was in the field. Harrington’s detractors also might say that he hasn’t been much of a factor on the PGA Tour this year, with his best finish at tie for 11th – a tournament that Tiger happened to win. In fact, Harrington hasn’t finished in the Top 10 in seven events, even missing two cuts.
But Paddy has been getting closer at Augusta. In nine career Masters, he has three top-10 finishes, and two of those came in the past two seasons: fifth last year and seventh in 2007. This week he also has a new driver, the one he used two years ago when his driving at Augusta was the best it had ever been.
Harrington says he doesn’t really feel any pressure to win a third straight major and hopes he’s dueling Tiger on Sunday: “If I was going against someone I should beat then all the pressure would be on me. But if I’m going up against Tiger, well, the pressure would be on him. I’d be a bit freer about what I was doing because I wouldn’t fear losing so much.”
It’s that kind of carefree attitude that makes him a Tour favorite.
A win would make Harrington one of just four men to have won three consecutive major championships since the mid-20th century. A victory would also make him only one of two active players to have won at least four majors. Of course, in both cases he would join a club that Tiger is already a part of.
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