War of Nerves

Harrington brings the Claret Jug back to Ireland. Photo: Darren Carroll

Romero subsequently bogeyed the 18th, clearing golf's biggest international stage for Europe's two best players -- teammates on four Ryder Cup squads but never partners. Harrington is depicted as a self-made grinder who has hit 10 balls for every dollar he's earned. "They say Vijay [Singh] is the hardest worker, but I'd put my man against anyone," said Paddy's caddie, Ronan Flood. "He's actually had to tone it down."

Few in Harrington's class have made steadier progress or done it over a longer period of time, and though he had 11 career wins in Europe (and two in the U.S.) before this one, his performance at the majors, particularly in recent years, had not been up to snuff. Amazingly, last week marked the first time in his 11-year career that Harrington ventured into serious Sunday afternoon contention.

"When we first started working together, he said, 'Everything has always come hard for me,' " said sports psychologist Bob Rotella, whom Harrington has been seeing for five years. "Then on the putting green [between the end of regulation and the playoff], he reminded me. He said, 'See? I told you. Nothing comes easy for me.' "

Garcia, meanwhile, would seem to be a bunch of things Harrington isn't. The first authentic post-Woods phenom with outrageous natural talent and a ton of non-golf interests, he turned pro to an overdose of fanfare a little more than eight years ago and has since struggled with the reverberations. A terrific putter when he barged onto the scene, Sergio has regressed so dramatically that his woes on the greens have come to define him. He can be as petulant as Harrington is cheerful, but when things are going well, Garcia has the type of giant personality than can carry a tour.

None of this is breaking news, but it all came into play last Sunday evening as the tension rose and one crucial moment followed another. Garcia's belly putter, which he put in his bag at his father's urging after last month's U.S. Open, got a boatload of credit for helping him to rounds of 65-71-68. Although it didn't totally desert him down the stretch, one thing is now fairly clear: The putting issues that have bothered him for years weren't resolved simply by switching equipment.

"It is better," said Sergio's father, Victor. "Not great, but better."

In the 13-hole stretch from the start of Sunday's back nine through the completion of the playoff, Garcia had 12 putts of consequence, nine of which were from 18 feet or closer. He made two -- the 10-footer for birdie at the 13th and a six-footer for birdie at the 14th. He used considerable portions of his post-round press conference to bemoan his bad luck, lament the "unbelievable" putts that didn't go in and complain about the bad break he got after hitting the flagstick with his tee shot on the second playoff hole, the par-3 16th.

A 3-iron struck straight downwind into a dry, late-day green isn't going to have any spin, but don't try telling that to Sergio. "It's funny how some guys hit the pin and the ball stops at one foot," he said. "Mine hits the pin and goes 20 feet away."

Garcia's biggest gripe came in regard to his having to wait for the area around the 18th green to clear before hitting his final full shot of regulation. On several occasions, he referred to the delay as lasting 15 minutes -- an absurd accusation since it was much closer to three minutes. "It took them forever to rake that bunker," said Sergio's caddie, Glen Murray. "I have no idea why."

It was time well-spent. Garcia's 3-iron from 251 yards found the same sand. His bunker shot was OK but certainly not great, leaving him a 10-footer that caught a lot of the left lip but never slid far enough right to have a chance of going in. Needing a par to win outright, he had missed by an inch, giving a second chance to a guy who had absolutely no business expecting one.

Not that Harrington ever would. It is perhaps the biggest difference between himself and Garcia -- the ability to cope with crisis, respect the limits of entitlement and focus on the task at hand. "When I hit [the drive on the 72nd hole] in the water, I told myself that a 5 would still keep me in there," Paddy said. "The problem is, you're coming from the [right] side of the fairway, you've got 229 yards and trying to cut it back to the pin with out-of-bounds on the left. I didn't execute. I hit it fat."

A second ball in the water, teetering on the verge of a Van de Veldeian collapse, Harrington maintained his composure. "I walked up there and knew I had to get it up and down," he said. "Even though things hadn't gone right for me, I really had a feeling that I could chip it in. I thought that if I was going to win an Open, my break was going to happen at some stage."

Paddy did almost hole the bogey chip, but his break was still 15 minutes away. It came not in the form of a lucky bounce or a long putt, but a defensive, frustrated, emotionally ragged opponent who arrived for the playoff either unwilling or unable to convince himself he hadn't let this tournament slip through his hands. "I should write a book on how to not miss a shot in a playoff and shoot one over," Garcia would theorize.

You might want to add forgetful to that list. After a perfectly positioned tee ball at the first, Sergio dumped a 9-iron in the right bunker, short-siding himself before Harrington knocked his own approach to eight feet. Garcia missed his par attempt, Harrington rolled in his birdie putt and though no one knew it, the 136th British Open was over. "It's great to have been named as someone who could win a major," the champion said. "To actually do it [shows] I've come a long way. When I turned pro, I would have settled to be a good journeyman player."

One man's journey, it appears, is another man's destination.