What they said:International newspaper reaction to Padraig Harrington's play-off victory at Carnoustie
Chicago Tribune(Ed Sherman)
"The 18th at Carnoustie is the cruelest hole in golf. The 499-yard par four shatters hearts, and perhaps careers. Padraig Harrington looked as if he would join Jean Van de Velde as one of the hole's infamous victims. Arriving at the 18th with a one-shot lead in the British Open, Harrington hit not one but two balls in the Barry Burn. He had to make a terrific up-and-down just to salvage a double-bogey six.
"Harrington dejectedly walked off the green, his dreams seemingly ruined. Somewhere Van de Velde could relate. Ah, but the 18th had a surprise for us. Harrington wouldn't be the hole's main target. It would be Sergio Garcia."
Los Angeles Times(Chuck Culpepper)
"Even with its meandering Barry Burn and its ravenous pot bunkers and its belligerent rough, No 18 at Carnoustie needs a makeover. It needs curtains, it needs a marquee and it needs not marshals but ushers. It's not a golf hole; it's a genuine, high-end theatre.
"It had 35-year-old Irishman Padraig Harrington dunking two balls into the twisty creek on the same No 18 to blow a one-shot lead so graphically that even Harrington's wife thought of Van de Velde."
New York Times(Damon Hack)
"The rain was falling in quiet drops when Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia crossed paths for the first time Sunday, at the intersection of Carnoustie's 17th and 18th holes, where linksland meets the Barry Burn.
"As Garcia made his way down the 17th fairway, Harrington was walking down the rough line at No 18, his golf ball twice rinsed in brown water and his British Open chances turning dark."
New York Times(Dave Anderson)
"Soon Harrington, a 35-year-old Irish pro, was in the scorer's room watching television as Sergio Garcia, coming down the final hole, needed only a par four to win. Outside, Harrington's wife, Caroline, sat in a golf cart with little Paddy, a radio earphone in her left ear, and she listened as Garcia played the final hole.
"'Three-iron,' she said quietly. Moments later, 'It's in the left bunker,' but with a sad smile, she added, 'He's Spanish, he'll get it up and down.' If he did, Garcia would win. But now she said, 'It's seven-and-a-half feet past.' After a few minutes, as a groan erupted back near the green, she said, 'He missed.' And she closed her eyes."
USA Today(Christine Brennan)
"Golf as farce elevates to an art form whenever the sport ventures to this tiny town on the North Sea for the British Open. Eight years after Jean Van de Velde took off his shoes and socks and waded into the foreboding, brick-lined stream known as the Barry Burn to go after his golf ball, the misadventures on the 72nd hole continued unabated.
"This time, the diabolical hole with the creek snaking through it reached up and tried to strangle not one but several men, chief among them the tournament winner, Ireland's Padraig Harrington.
"An hour-and-a-half before he sank the winning putt in a play-off, Harrington hit into the murky waters of the burn not once, but twice -- and on successive shots, no less -- giving new meaning to the term double-dipping."
Washington Post(Leonard Shapiro)
"As Padraig Harrington sat in the scorer's hut Sunday following his double-bogey disaster on the 72nd hole of the 136th British Open, he steadfastly refused to brood or beat himself up over the two shots he had just splashed into Carnoustie's insidious Barry Burn.
"Instead, the Irishman watched a television set with the sound turned off -- 'because I didn't want to hear any analysing of my six,' he said later - and tried to keep thinking positive thoughts. 'I never let it cross my mind that I'd just thrown away the Open,' Harrington said."
Sydney Morning Herald(Martin Blake)
"This time it was Harrington who conjured the meltdown. Standing on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead over Garcia, the Irishman blew his shot with the driver way right and it bounced off a bridge and into the burn. After a penalty drop, his third shot was miss-hit and bounced into the burn in front of the green, so that he would now be playing his fifth.
"At the end of a day when he had been almost flawless, he had to be content with a double-bogey six at the final hole of regulation play, and a seven-under-par total, as he waited for Garcia, eight-under-par and two groups behind him, to complete his round."
