February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
In all fairness, Trevor Immelman won this tournament with some fancy putting; Harrington didn’t leave a side door unlocked for his rival to sneak in by.
Immelman curled an eight-footer in for a birdie at 18, then had to wait for Harrington to play the hole to see whether overtime would be necessary. Harrington, needing a birdie to match, left his approach shot 10 feet from the cup on the par-4, but could not drop the ball with his first putt and had to settle for par and a minor share.
“In six months’ time, nobody will remember how close it was,” Harrington said. “It’s going to be another second place. That’s the way it is. I thought I was doing well and was surprised to see that he was keeping pace with me. I obviously needed to make more birdies.”
Harrington had seven birdies, offset by only one bogey, in Sunday’s final tour of the course. He finished 16 under par at 272 (70-68-68-66).
Darren Clarke was right behind in a tie at third place, although four strokes higher than Harrington at 276 (70-67-70-69). Gary Murphy also made the cut, finishing with a group in 56th place at 294 (71-73-75-75). The magic 36-hole number was 146, which eluded Graeme McDowell, 148 (73-75), Damien McGrane, 152 (75-77), and Peter Lawrie, 155 (71-84).
COLLEGES
The University of Rhode Island earned its first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships by finishing eighth in the East Regional at Yale’s course in
New Haven, Conn. The feat marks the first time that a District I school has advanced to the finals.
The Rams were led by junior Ken Fahey, who finished tied for second place among individuals. The pride of Clifden, Co. Galway, finished two under par at 208 (67-72-69) for 54 holes. Heading onto the 18th tee in Saturday’s final round, he was tied for the lead with Wake Forest’s Bill Haas, but a bogey on the par-5 finisher pushed Fahey into the runner-up position. Haas, it should be noted, won the Ben Hogan Award as the country’s top collegiate golfer and is the son of pro Jay Haas.
Fahey began the tournament auspiciously enough on Thursday with birdies on the first three holes. He gave back two of those with bogeys on 4 and 5, but advanced to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on 16 and 17. After racking up bogeys on 3, 6 and 9 on Saturday, he had to rally with birdies on 12, 13, 15 and 16 to get back into contention. The short holes proved his undoing as he finished three over par on the par-3s, of which there are four, including no. 9, which he bogeyed in each round.
Teammate James Clarke, a senior from Belfast, tied for 99th position in the 141-man field at 231 (77-78-76). Competing as an individual was South
Alabama’s Gareth Maybin, a senior from Ballydome, Co. Antrim, who ended his collegiate career by earning a share of 17th place at 215 (73-72-70). The top two individuals in the field from nonadvancing teams qualify for the finals. Maybin missed by two strokes.
Clemson topped the team scoring at three under par. Rhode Island finished 16 over.