One thing you don't want on your mind heading to the first tee on the last day of a Players' Championship, especially when your playing partner is world number one Tiger Woods, is to have worries about putting.
Yet, for Padraig Harrington, that was the mind-set that accompanied him at Sawgrass yesterday - on a day when Australian Adam Scott, at 23, the third-youngest player in the field, was poised to secure the $1.4 million title.
Playing alongside Woods in big tournaments is becoming something of a regular occurrence for Harrington. He first did so at the US Open in Tulsa in 2001 and, since then, accompanied him in the US Open at Bethpage, the AmEx at Mount Juliet in 2002 and, most famously, outgunned his host in the Target World Challenge later that year.
For Harrington to be worried about his putting is a strange phenomenon. Much of the 32-year-old Dubliner's impressive career has been based on a confidence with the blade, and last season he again topped the putting statistics on the European Tour.
"I was struggling with my game Wednesday, and struggling again on Saturday, so questions have to be asked why that is," observed Harrington before setting out on his final round, adding: "Because, after the first two rounds I'd got myself into a nice position . . . if I knew what I was doing, I'd be happier. I'm definitely going to have to talk with my coach Bob Torrance to find out what the problem is.
"It'd be nice if I knew what it was. If it was this that needed some work, or that which needed to be a little bit better. The strange thing is that I could play worse than I have done and be confident of where I was going. But, more than anything, the one thing I do know is that my putting is not what it should be. I'm not hitting my putts with any conviction."
With Augusta looming, that is what worries Harrington most of all.
Yet, for all his concerns, and after a shaky start that saw him incur three bogeys in his opening five holes in the final round, he showed his character to settle down. And birdies at the fourth, seventh, ninth, 11th and 14th holes enabled him to negate those bogeys.
In fact, after 15 holes of his final round, he had moved to eight-under-par and into fourth place. He rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the difficult 14th and he was only five behind at that point as Scott bogeyed the 10th.
There was a touch of irony about Harrington's putting concerns in that, when the chips were down, he boldly holed birdie putts from 10 feet on the seventh and ninth and from six feet on the 11th, and there was evidence that his short game was in good shape on the 12th when he pitched dead out of thick greenside rough to save par.
On the 14th, the most difficult hole on the course, Harrington boldly rammed in a 30-footer for birdie.
Woods, meanwhile, did not make his customary final-day charge - and much of the world's number one's worries were again caused by his driver, with him missing over 50 per cent of fairways.
However, he was hampered by a leg injury and, midway through his round, he had to nip into the physiotherapy trailer to have his left leg bandaged.
On a day of sunshine, with the greens firming up and Woods quipping as he walked to the 11th green that, "it is not often you can see your reflection on the greens", there were those who showed that it was possible to conquer the course.
One of those was Jay Haas, who tied for second place with Harrington a year ago, and who finished with a 66 for seven-under-par 281, to take the early clubhouse lead.
Out the course, though, Scott was the player in most control and seemingly destined to take the title. Scott, who had started the day with a two-shot lead over his nearest pursuers Frank Lickliter and Kevin Sutherland, had moved into a four-shot lead over Kenny Perry midway through his final round.
The Australian birdied the second, only to bogey the third - but then followed up with three birdies in his next six holes (at the fourth, sixth and eighth holes) to turn in 33 and reach 13-under-par.
Two-time major winner John Daly, who rejuvenated his career this season with a win and two other top-10 finishes in six tournaments prior to the Players' Championship, could not produce the finish here that would have assured him of a return to Augusta National for the Masters.
Daly's unpredictable nature on a golf course was emphasised by an eagle-bogey-birdie finish, that was still only good enough for a finishing 80, leaving him down the field in 79th place, a finish that was not sufficient to keep him in the top-10 on the US Tour moneylist or get him into the world's top-50 (after the Players'), the two qualifying criteria left for those not already elgible.
Early Final Round Scores
281 - J Haas 72 73 70 66.
282 - S Micheel 70 76 69 67.
284 - S Ames (Tri) 75 69 72 68.
285 - T Byrum 74 71 71 69, G Ogilvy (Aus) 73 70 72 70.
286 - SCink 70 73 74 69, JP Hayes 72 73 72 69, T Bjorn (Den) 67 76 73 70
287 - Darren Clarke (Ire) 71 74 73 69, S Verplank 68 75 73 71, S Elkington (Aus) 69 76 70 72.
288 - L Mattiace 74 69 74 71, J Parnevik (Swe) 72 71 73 72, C Pavin 74 67 74 73, D Love 77 68 70 73, B Baird 71 74 70 73.
289 - P Bates 73 73 73 70, C Montgomerie (Br) 73 73 73 70, S Hoch 70 71 77 71, B Faxon 70 75 73 71, N Price (Zim) 75 69 73 72, D Peoples 72 72 73 72, R Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 68 75 73, JLeonard 75 69 72 73, C Campbell 75 69 71 74, B Quigley 73 73 69 74, KJ Choi (S Kor) 67 79 69 74.
290 - T Petrovic 71 72 74 73, S Maruyama (Jpn) 70 73 74 73, S McCarron 76 70 69 75.
291 - T Hamilton 71 72 76 72, C Franco (Par) 74 70 74 73, H Slocum 73 73 72 73, J Durant 74 71 72 74, R Pampling (Aus) 73 71 72 75, J Rose (Br) 73 73 70 75, B Mayfair 76 70 70 75, J Senden (Aus) 73 72 70 76.
292 - L Roberts 73 70 79 70, S McRoy 74 71 75 72, A Oberholser 73 73 75 71, C Stadler 70 76 74 72, M Calcavecchia 71 72 72 77.
293 - N Faldo ( Br) 71 75 71 76.
294 - B Jobe 68 75 76 75.
295 - B Tway 69 71 78 77, B Langer (Ger) 71 74 73 77.
296 - J Sindelar 73 70 73 78.
298 - J Daly 69 73 76 80.
299 - P Jacobsen 72 73 71 83
301 - G Norman (Aus) 72 73 77 79, H Tanaka (Jpn) 72 71 74 84.
302 N Lancaster 72 71 80 79.
