Sometimes, most times, you don't always get what you want. So it was for Padraig Harrington in this Players Championship over the revamped TPC course at Sawgrass, a case of "ifs" and "buts" and unfulfilled possibilities which ultimately left him little more than a bit player in the great scheme of things.
Sure, Harrington would have preferred to have been around later; but the positives about finishing your work so early on Sunday prior to the title contenders even teeing off is that making the flight connections home to Dublin - in this case via New York - are not akin to a mad rush. So, while his ambitions in The Players were over long before Phil Mickelson and Sean O'Hair trooped to the first tee yesterday, Harrington's thoughts were moving ahead to the Irish Open. That's the thing with professional golfers: there is always another tournament, another week for things to be right.
"You know, I'm looking forward to Adare Manor, it is a really good golf course. To go and win any tournament, though, you've got to play well and do the right things and get the right breaks during a given week. I'm happy with my form, and I know I am capable of doing it (at Adare). It is not easy to put it on demand, but I would consider myself to be in good form going into the Irish Open. It is nice to be going to a course I like and feel comfortable on," said Harrington, who yesterday shot a final round 70 for 290, two-over.
If Harrington could reflect on a weekend of what might have been, at least he demonstrated in yesterday's final round that his game is actually in very good shape . . . although, like everyone, he could do with holing more of those birdie putts that came his way.
"Yeah, I needed to be a bit better over the weekend. It just never happened, and you're waiting for it to happen. My preparations were not great coming into the week and that showed up during the tournament. But it's good to play four rounds of golf to get better and I've got 12 rounds of golf before the US Open, so it is about getting better in each one of them."
Of course, he wouldn't mind at all if everything were to click in to place for this week's Irish Open, a tournament that is high up on his list of priorities.
Harrington's immediate schedule - after a two-week stint in the States that saw him compete in the Wachovia and The Players, where he didn't get into the mix at the business end of either tournament - sees him play in the Irish Open this week and next week's BMW PGA championship at Wentworth, before a week off is followed by the St Jude Championship in Memphis and, then, the US Open at Oakmont. Before that, though, comes a run of big tournaments, starting with the Irish Open on a course where he won the JP McManus pro-am in 2005.
