Padraig Harrington.....2015 Honda Classic Champion

First Up wrote: »

He'll need to make his putts today if he is to make it through to Sunday. Big ask.

That's an extraordinarily negative comment.

First Up wrote: »

Possibly a bit negative but hardly "extraordinarily". He is currently inside the second cut line but only by a shot so he will need to be on his game to stay there.

Well it's no more of a "big ask" than making the friday cut, is it?!

First Up wrote: »

Might be. He has been one under and two under so far. There are low scores out there and he might need one of them.

In that case so will everyone else around him surely?not everyone around the 2nd cut line is going to burn it up.....Unless he has a couple of really bad holes I reckon he'll be ok the way he's been playing recently. I thought his second round last week in Portugal was one of his best all year. No bogies, up against it after the 1st round but he delivered.demonstrated to me at least that he's in a much better place than 6 months ago when he was bombing out at the cut every week. Granted he wasnt exactly burning it up in the 3rd round when they were called in (still under par and making progress on the leaderboard never the less) but i would have been interested to see how hed have finished up the tournament proper. As I've said before in posts, I'd like to see him kick on now today and target a top 20 finish at least. A good solid round today will set him up nice.....fingers crossed sure but who knows? One things for sure,he'll give 100% out there!

First Up wrote: »

Well I hope so. I'm just a bit concerned that is a birdie course more than a grinders course and PH is more suited to the latter. I think he will need to be in the 60's to be sure.

Maybe that will be the case...i don't think getting birdies is a problem for paddy lately,maybe not as many to compete at the business end granted, so if he minimise the errors,he should get through the second cut and maybe even compete for a top 20...i think the leaderboard is bunched whereby a couple of shots picked up on those around him will make a big difference to his current position....

abff wrote: »

I agree that he will need to make some putts. So will everyone who wants to make the third round cut.

But when you say that it's a 'big ask', it suggests that you think he would need to play well above his normal standard in order to make the cut. I don't think that is a fair assessment of his current form, which has been a lot steadier in recent weeks than it was earlier in the season.

The third round cut is also 70 plus ties, so there will be at most 9 players (and probably slightly fewer than that) failing to make it through to round four. There are 50 players on -4 or worse and, even if we assume that everyone on -5 or better will make the cut, that still gives a better than 80% chance of survival to those 50 players.

It's against that background that I found the degree of negativity in your comment to be 'extraordinary'.

I would accept "pessimistic" as a compromise. Either way, I still reckon he needs a 69.

Ouch! Just gone bogey, double bogey to slip back to 2 under overall after 9 holes.

Annus horribilis for Padraig, around 20 world ranking points garnered from 28 events.

REBELSAFC wrote: »

And it could have been better--he only parred the par 5 16th, the easiest hole on the course

If fives are the new sevens then we'll all be happy

MarcusP12 wrote: »

Very disappointing for paddy.made the half way cut handily enough and 2 bad holes cost him dearly in the end.if there weren't so many ties resulting in a 3rd round cut,he might have been able to put the disappointing 3rd round behind him and at least finished the tournament strongly.but I guess we'll never know if that would have been the case.will be interesting to see what positives he takes from this week to carry into next tournament....

I was looking at the scores on Friday and the last guy to get through on the cut holed a 28 foot putt for birdie on his last hole. I remember thinking that it was unfortunate (not for him obviously!) that he made the putt as it put Padraig at risk, but I was fairly confident that he would make it through to the final round, based on his recent improvement in form.

Unfortunately, this did not turn out to be the case and I hope that this does not set him back.

Padraig teeing off tomorrow at 8:20 EST in Georgia in The McGladrey Classic with Shawn Stefani and Fernando Gonzalez-Castano. Here's hoping for a good finish for him.

I'm optimistic about this week. Certainly he has been playing some nice golf lately, and I don't have my heart in my mouth when I watch - he was saying he is enjoying putting, which is great to hear.

come home padraig. forget the US

abff wrote: »

Not an option right now unfortunately, as he hasn't qualified for the final series. I think he has a few events lined up in the US between now and the end of the year. Hopefully, they'll go well, but if not we'll probably see a bit more of him on the European Tour next season.

That's it. Hopefully he plays well and gets his confidence up. Looking forward to seeing him in Europe next season.

abff wrote: »

Not an option right now unfortunately, as he hasn't qualified for the final series. I think he has a few events lined up in the US between now and the end of the year. Hopefully, they'll go well, but if not we'll probably see a bit more of him on the European Tour next season.

I was thinking more along the lines of " Why dent his confidence anymore than it is.... "

Come home for the winter. Work on your game away from tournaments and be revitalized and refreshed for the New Year!

That's three penalty drops he's had so far between yesterday and today. It just seems to be one step forward, two steps back at present. Hopefully he can turn it around and make the cut.