Harrington determined to make it third time lucky
Padraig Harrington admits he has unfinished business in Bermuda having twice suffered PGA Grand Slam misery in play-offs.The Dubliner’s hopes of Grand Slam glory were thwarted by big-hitting Argentine Angel Cabrera in 2007 and then by Jim Furyk in 2008.Both of those tough-to-take defeats came at Mid Ocean Club with Harrington hoping for a change of fortunes at the longer, but deceptively tricky, Port Royal Golf Course.“It’s funny, I can’t remember the play-off which I obviously lost to Jim Furyk, but I really remember the one I lost to Cabrera,” he said.“It still gets to me all right, I thought I had it won. I remember that one all right, and hopefully this is third time a charm.“I’ve come close twice in Grand Slams and hopefully it will be that close coming down the stretch this week and for it to fall in my favour that would be nice.“That would be the plan; to keep it the tournament as long as possible and hopefully down the stretch do a few nice things and come out winning.”Harrington was handed a chance to claim the pink jacket after organisers invited him as a last-minute replacement for Ernie Els who was forced to withdraw on Saturday with an ankle injury.With first alternate Graeme McDowell and second alternate Tiger Woods declining, Harrington said he jumped at the chance to return to Bermuda.“I was due to travel to China Sunday night but on Friday my manager rang me and said there was possibility that Ernie may pull out and would I be interested. I said ‘yeah, I’d be interested.’“As unfortunate as it is for Ernie, and let’s hope he gets better, it was good news for me.“You know, Bermuda is simple to get to. If it was Hawaii or something like that, it wouldn’t have been so much fun trying to get there.“Obviously playing the Grand Slam was a great choice but it was made that much easier by the convenience of coming to Bermuda.”Harrington, who has won three majors, described the 16th hole at Port Royal as one of the toughest holes he’d ever played.“The golf course, it’s a good test, some substantial holes out there. You have to think that 16th hole has got to be one of the toughest golf holes we’ll ever play,” he said.“I would say if you had that (hole) in a regular event, there would be a slight amount of moaning it’s an incredibly tough hole.“There’s certainly some opportunities to make some birdies out there and there are certainly some big, tough holes that you have to play well on top of that.”Keegan Bradley ground out a level-par 71 in the last round to finish on four-under-par to win last year’s Grand Slam.And the defending champion believes he is in far better physical shape than 12 months ago.“I’m going to really try to work the hardest I’ve ever worked this off-season,” he said. “I’ve already been working a lot on my physical fitness side of things that I have never worked as hard as I am now, so it’s going to be a busy off-season. But I’ll be trying to get better just like I always did.”