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Train That Way, Play That Way!
By Tony | August 17, 2008
I cannot help but marvel at how Padraig Harrington closed out the USPGA Golf Championship with three clutch putts on the 70th, 71st and 72nd holes at Oakland Hills CC.
With nine holes to play there were four players with a chance. Ben Curtis of the United States and Henrik Stensen of Sweden were both at 2 under, two ahead of Harrington and one behind Spain`s Sergio Garcia.
Stensen bogied the par five 12th hole, so that all but ended his chances of victory. Curtis hung in there until the difficult par 3 17th hole making a bogie after his tee shot went long and nestled down in the thick fringe rough.
Harrington birdied the 10th, got it up and down from over the green on the par five 11th for another birdie and then birdied the par three 13th. A bogie on the 14th hole by Harrington and now Garcia had the lead by one with some of the most difficult holes in Championship golf to come.
Garcia hit the hole on his mid iron approach shot on the 15th but failed to hole his putt from around 15 feet. Garcia had 165 metres for his approach to the tough 16th hole and lost the shot to the right into the water fronting the green. Harrington after a beautiful tee shot on the 16th hole had only an eight iron into the green. Harrington pulled his approach shot badly and found the greenside bunker on the left. Garcia played a beautifully controlled pitch into the green after taking his penalty drop to 4 feet. Harrington now faced with a long bunker shot accepted the challenge before him and hit his bunker shot to 15 feet.
Harrington stepped up and holed his par putt. Garcia holed on top of Harrington and both players moved to the difficult long par 3 17th hole. Harrington hit first and struck the most beautiful five iron to ten feet. Garcia stepped up and replied with a quality shot of his own with a five iron to 4 feet!
Both players now faced putts with the potential to define their careers ( Harrington winning back to back major championships and Garcia attempting to win his first major) and Harrington rolled his ten footer into the middle of the hole. Garcia pulled his putt just enough for it too catch the left side of the hole and spin out.
With the tough 18th hole left to play it was still either players Championship. Harrington who only two hole ago was one shot behind now found himself one shot ahead of Garcia standing on the 18th tee. Harrington pushed his tee shot out to the right and caught the fairway bunker. Garcia hit his tee shot even further right and missed the fairway bunkers. Garcia hit a fairway wood into the greenside bunker.
Harrington then surprisingly made a mental error and caught his fairway bunker shot fat and left his ball in the thick rough up the right side. Left with a seven iron into this long par four finishing hole, and with a reasonably good lie in the rough, he hit his approach to 15 feet.
Garcia now needed to apply the pressure once more on Harrington with a good bunker shot, but unfortunatley he caught the shot heavy and left himself with an 8 foot putt for par. It was now in Harringtons hands, if he could hole his putt he would be the 2008 USPGA Champion. Harrington went through his usual pre-shot preparation and rolled the ball down the slope into the middle of the hole!
Harrington holed three clutch putts over the last three holes to claim the title. At the Australian High Performance Golf Academy AHPGA our students are constantly training under on course tournament intensity through a number of daily performance assessments and skills tests. One such test is where we have our players attempt to hole three putts in a row. Firstly from 6 feet and then 12 feet and finally 18 feet. This training just might give them the edge when they have the opportunity to win a tournament (or maybe even a major championship) just the way Padraig did at this year`s USPGA Championship.
Always train the way you intend to play….train that way, play that way!
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