V. Krishnaswamy

Southport (Britain): Beware the wounded golfer, goes the old adage; and Padraig Harrington, playing with an injured wrist, added to the folklore Sunday by sealing his second British Open title in 12 months. Beginning the day two shots behind the leader Greg Norman, who disintegrated from the start, Harrington finished the day at one-under 69 and finished the Championships at three-over 283 four shots clear of runner-up Ian Poulter of England and six ahead of Norman (77) and Swede Henrik Stenson (71), who shared the third place at nine-over 289. Jim Furyk (71) and amateur Chris Wood (72) shared the fifth place at 10-over.

Harrington did not even play a full practice round for the fearing of aggravating his already hurting wrist. Meanwhile Shark Norman once again lost his bite when he needed it most and ended at seven-over 77 and dropped to tied third. Not bad for a man playing his first Major since 2005,but still a heart-breaker for one who came so close to his third Open, 15 years after his second. Norman never gave himself a chance before he came here and went to the extent of saying the Open was like practice for the Senior British Open next week and the Senior US Open the week after. He had a nightmarish start with three bogeys in a row and then missed a few birdies as they lipped or horse-shoed out.

 Harrington oscillated between agony and ecstasy on the final day. He saw fellow Norman crumble at the start and he himself had his problems after a steady beginning. Norman had three bogeys at the start and Harrington had six pars to begin the day. But then the Irishman ran into three bogeys from seventh to ninth. But on the back nine, Harrington was a different player. Harrington, starting the day at four-over, was just one-over for 15 holes, despite having dropped three bogeys in a row at one stage.

Playing alongside Harrington, Norman once again seemed to have lost his bite in the crucial final round as he began with a rash of bogeys. But before all that the man setting the first target for the day was the flamboyant Ian Poulter who brought in a rare under-round of 69 with a nerve-wracking par putt on the 18th. He finished with seven-over to become the clubhouse leader and close the door on all others who had finished earlier than him. None found it more to their peril than Norman who may have approached the tournament as practice but in the end came close to winning it. What a story it would have been, but in Norman s case the story has always been of "so near and yet to so far" and it was the eighth time he had led going into the final round, but only once, at the 1986 British Open was he successful in lifting the trophy.

Source : IANS