Why Padraig Harrington will win the Tour Championship
Would you call the 2009 PGA Tour season unsuccessful overall for Irishman Padraig Harrington? You would almost have to, as Paddy had won at least one major in the past two years and wasn’t able to do that this year. And the two times Harrington was dueling on a Sunday with Tiger Woods, Harrington fell apart.
But all that can be remedied with a win this week at East Lake in Atlanta at the Tour Championship. And perhaps no one is playing better than Harrington, who is +1300 this week to win on WagerWeb.com. He enters the tournament ranked No. 6 in points in the FedEx Cup race for that $10 million prize, so he probably has to win this week to claim that. Harrington has done everything but win of late.
He entered the WGC-Bridgestone the week before the PGA Championship having missed six cuts on the PGA Tour this year and with no top-10 finishes. But at the Bridgestone, he finished tied for second. He has followed that with a T10 at the PGA Championship, T2 at The Barclays, T10 at the Deutsche Bank and a T6 at the BMW. Harrington is the only player who has recorded top-10 finishes in all three of this year’s playoff events. This from a guy who was No. 130 in the points following a disappointing British Open. The only issue during the hot streak was that Harrington has had at least one hole in each event where he scored double-bogey or worse, and that’s what cost him in the Bridgestone and PGA.
“The last few weeks have been good. I’ve been pushing for a win and this would be a big week to get that win. (I would) turn what was less than an average year up until, say, August into a great year,” he said.
A victory at East Lake on Sunday would earn Harrington a check for $1.35 million and the chance of a $10 million bonus as the overall FedExCup champion. Realistically, he would have to win this tournament and hope Tiger finishes third or worse for that to happen.
“If I can play well in the FedExCup and finish the season off, particularly if I got a win, I’d be able to look back at this year as being a very positive year,” Harrington said. “You weren’t going to say that two months ago; it was looking pretty miserable at this stage of the year. It was possible it was going to be one of those years you just have to write off. But the FedEx Cup has given me the opportunity to change that around.”
Harrington has played the Tour Championship three times, with a best finish of a tie for seventh in 2005.
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