In-form Harrington one shot off Chevron lead
Friday December 04 2009
Padraig Harrington's hopes of finishing a frustrating season with a flourish received a significant boost yesterday as he posted an impressive first-round 69 at the Chevron World Challenge.
Harrington's only win in 2009 came at the Irish Professional Championship last July and, for the first time in 10 years, he failed to win on any of the world's major professional tours.
Yet his form in recent months has been full of promise and the triple-Major Champion's opening gambit at Sherwood Country Club suggests he's in the right frame of mind to emulate his 2002 success at Tiger's $5.75m end-of-season spectacular.
At three-under par, Harrington was one shy of joint first round leaders Zach Johnson and Ian Poulter, though the latter was intensely frustrated to complete his first competitive round at Sherwood Country Club with a double-bogey at the final hole.
Another Chevron first-timer, Graeme McDowell, called up as a last minute replacement for absent tournament host Tiger Woods, fought back after a stuttering start, playing the back nine in three-under as he ended with a 71.
Though recent Dubai World Championship-winner Lee Westwood also signed for a 71, his first round could hardly have been more frustrating. He dropped three shots in the closing stages and, like Poulter, also stumbled to a double-bogey six at 18.
Yet Westwood, who bounced back brilliantly from an agonisingly close call at July's Open Championship to win the European Tour's inaugural Race to Dubai, might still cross one important hurdle this week in Southern California and register his first win on US soil.
Chevron World Challenge,
Live, Eurosport 2, 8.0
Irish Independent
