Michael Gazlay sold Louis Oosthuizen
his house at Old Palm GC in Palm Beach
Gardens, Fla., and witnessed the second
albatross by the 2010 British Open
champion in less than three months last
week at the Ritz Carlton GC in Jupiter.
Gazlay, a scratch golfer, was playing for
the first time with Oosthuizen, who lost
a playoff to Bubba Watson in this year’s
Masters after making 2 on the par- 5 second hole with a 4-iron in the final round.
His second albatross also came at the
second hole of the Ritz Carlton layout,
from 265 yards with a 3-wood. Because
they were playing a fun game where
Gazlay got three strokes a side, two
mulligans and two “recalls,” Oosthuizen
had to play the shot over. He hit another
3-wood to 15 feet and two-putted for
birdie. Gazlay made 5-net- 4 so while
walking off the hole, he couldn’t help
himself from saying, “Nice halve.”
The U.S. Women’s Open was Shane
Joel’s second week on the bag of Na
Yeon Choi, but the veteran caddie (on
furlough because of Mark O’Meara’s
injury on the Champions Tour) wasn’t
afraid to speak up during an awkward
and potentially controversial moment
on the 10th hole Sunday at Blackwolf
Run. Choi was cruising with a five-stroke
lead when she hooked a tee ball into the
hazard on the par- 5 10th. Joel argued
for a drop, but after discussing the
point of entry with her playing partner
and USGA officials, went high road, and
agreed they should go back to the tee.
Choi made triple-bogey 8 but could
play on with a clear conscience. “At the
end of the day, all we wanted to do was
get it right and have no repercussions
at the end of the round because of an
improper drop,” Joel said.
Senior writer Tim Rosaforte appears
on Golf Channel’s “Golf Central”
and NBC’s coverage of the Players,
U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup.
That’s why Harrington kept making
swing changes under Torrance and
ultimately why he missed three of four
major cuts in 2010 when he was 175th
in ball-striking.
Another reason for the change to
Cowen is that Harrington believed
Torrance wanted him hitting too many
balls, and his body—particularly his
neck—couldn’t take the torque. Cowen
and Harrington have been working
more on understanding mechanics
rather than grinding at physically
grooving new ones. “He came to my
range three days after the 2011 PGA
Championship,” Cowen said. “I was
surprised how little he knew about his
own golf swing.”
One of Cowen’s strategic points was
that when Harrington was winning
majors and finishing fourth in the
FedEx Cup regular season in 2008, it
was because of his excellence from 75
yards and in. By pounding so many
balls under Torrance, Harrington had
ignored his wedge game. Cowen noted
that although his average proximity to
the hole from 75 yards or less in 2008
was a ridiculously good seven feet,
three inches, that figure almost
doubled to 14 feet, two inches in 2011.
Statistically, Harrington has
improved only marginally since
working with Cowen except for one
important category. He has shaved
nearly a shot off his stroke average
and is within . 20 of where he was in
2008, when he was third on the PGA
Tour in scoring.“His first words after
the U.S. Open were: ‘If you ever talk
[to me] about anything other than
short game and attitude going into a
major, I’m just going to tell you to be
quiet,’” Rotella said. “In these majors
it’s about getting it up and down and
making putts.”
As Rotella pointed out, Harrington
has remained a stalwart through the
peaks and valleys. With only one win
since the PGA at Oakland Hills, and a
World Ranking that dropped to 96th
before this year’s FedEx St. Jude
Classic, Harrington was naturally
equipped to deal with the down times.
“When I look at him, his greatest
asset is his indomitable spirit,”
Rotella said. “For Padraig is a guy
whose whole life people have been
telling him he’s not going to be that
good, he didn’t have that much talent,
so he’s constantly been finding ways
to improve.”
Improvement is what Harrington
has always been about, which fits
Alred’s mind-set in comparing
Padraig’s comeback to the challenge
rugby legend Jonny Wilkinson faced
after major knee surgery. “If you think
you’ll get back to where you were,
you’ll have a natural mental plateau,”
Alred said. “When you feel like you’re
getting near there you won’t make it
and never will. Actually, he has to
think about being better than he was
before, whatever ‘before’ meant.”
“Before” was two claret jugs and a
Wanamaker Trophy, replicas
Harrington saw last week while home
working on his short game on the two
practice greens at his Dublin resi-
dence. He backed up the U.S. Open
with a T- 11 at the Travelers Champi-
onship and a T- 7 at the Irish Open,
but his sights are set on bigger
trophies as he headed off to Castle
Stuart GC for the Aberdeen Asset
Management Scottish Open. “Every-
thing is geared toward the majors,” he
said. “I find in the majors, that
patience suits my game, suits my
attitude.” N
