Unlucky horseshoes
Harrington has left little room for error
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Padraig Harrington's second round was finally shaping up when he addressed a short birdie putt attempt on Augusta National's 15th green.
After a practice stroke, he placed his putter head on the ground behind the ball and prepared to putt before a strong gust of wind left his pants legs rippling violently in the wind. The gust was so strong, in fact, that it blew his ball a few inches from where it sat.
Although Harrington's club did not touch the ball, golf's rules dictate that the Irishman receive a one-stroke penalty because the ball moved after he grounded his putter behind the ball. He made the par putt, but the unfortunate set of circumstances robbed Harrington, the winner of each of the past two major tournaments, of a prime scoring opportunity.
"I had to hit my ball three feet into the wind, which is obviously a bit strange, but that happens. It swirls around the place," said Harrington, whose 1-over-par 73 left him with a 36-hole score of 2 under, seven strokes off the Masters lead.
"It was a place where it blew back and it was a penalty. I was worried about being distracted and missing the next putt, so I was quite (proud) of myself to hole out there. I actually felt good about it."
In The Rules of Golf handbook, Rule 18-2.b states that, "If a player's ball in play moves after he has addressed it (other than as a result of a stroke), the player is deemed to have moved the ball and incurs a penalty of one stroke."
Put differently, as the announcing team described the scene, Harrington was a victim of "really bad luck." It was a problem that plagued him throughout the afternoon.
He dropped two strokes on the front nine before gaining momentum with an eagle on 13. He could have moved to 4 under with a birdie on No. 15 before fate intervened.
Despite the bad luck there, Harrington was more disappointed by the way he played the final two holes, bogeying No. 17 and lipping out a birdie putt to finish with par on the closing hole.
"Obviously, to have a horseshoe on the last again, it leaves a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth," Harrington said. "I'm much more disappointed in 17 and 18 than I am 15. It was good to hole the putt afterwards."
The uneven round, where he fell three strokes further from the lead, leaves Harrington in shaky position to run his streak of consecutive major championships to three. He knows a rally is possible -- "it's well within me," he said -- but his margin of error will be miniscule over the final 36 holes.
"Here at Augusta, it's not a big deal to be seven behind. There are a number of players under par who are probably expecting (to) challenge over the weekend," Harrington said. "The problem with today's round is it doesn't leave me much leeway going into the weekend. I can't afford to have those horseshoes over the next two days."
| 2nd Round | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Tot |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Rnd | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 38 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 73 |
| Tot | -2 | -2 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -2 | -2 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -2 |
| 1st Round | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Tot |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Rnd | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 69 |
| Tot | 0 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -2 | -3 | -3 | -2 | -2 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -3 |
