Bitter Pill

"I was surprised on 16, I was surprised," said Harrington. "It was within his control. ... And there is no doubt that was the opportunity I was looking for. That was the opening of the door. I felt it was going my way on the 17th tee. I thought I was going to win the PGA Championship. I did not feel that way on the 16th."

The fourth mistake was a pulled four-foot birdie putt -- after a majestic 5-iron from 216 yards -- on the par-3 17th. Harrington of course made the putt much more difficult with his merciless birdie from 10 feet. "I knew if I holed this, I probably would win the PGA," said Harrington. "If I missed, Sergio would probably win the PGA." Garcia, whose short putting was first-rate Sunday, gave way with the slightest of pulls to fall a stroke behind.

The final mistake was Garcia's pushed drive into the rough on the brutish par-4 18th -- with perhaps the most important fairway to hit on the course -- after Harrington had momentarily given the advantage back by hitting his drive into a bunker. Again, Garcia's driving had been extraordinary, but not when he needed it most. His near-heroic 5-wood shot from the rough caught the corner of greenside bunker, from where a mediocre sand shot might have been a sixth mistake, but Harrington erased its specter.

Garcia's profound disappointment was probably best registered by a complete lack of acknowledgement for the putt that beat him. As Harrington celebrated, the Spaniard stayed in a crouch ostensibly reading the green. After missing and putting out, Garcia gave Harrington the quickest of handshakes, Woods/Mickelson style, telling because Garcia would later give fellow runner-up Ben Curtis a warm hug. The two Europeans clearly have a cool relationship, chilled considerably by the desperate hours at Carnoustie. There, after Harrington hit his drive on the 72nd into the Barry Burn, he passed a perhaps inappropriately smiling Garcia (who was playing the 71st hole) on a bridge. "I was in no mood to smile," Harrington said later. Then on the final hole of the playoff -- again the trouble-laden 18th -- Harrington was preparing to address his tee shot with a two-stroke lead when he found it necessary to ask Garcia to give him more room.

"I would definitely say we're very much the opposite, me and Sergio," Harrington told The Guardian last September. "While we are [Ryder Cup] teammates, and the bond in that environment is amazing, we don't have a huge amount in common. We would be fairly competitive, I'd say." Adding that he had felt genuinely sorry for Garcia during the trophy presentation at Carnoustie, "That was it. I've seen him around since, but I'm not there trying to help him."

At Oakland Hills the best Garcia could come up with in the way of acknowledging Harrington -- who has now won three of the last six majors -- was, "He was obviously very good on the back nine and things just happened his way." He was then asked, "What would you say about Paddy's last month?" Garcia barely managed a just-this-side-of-sarcastic, "Great."

Garcia is now 0-for-38 in majors as a professional, and his undeniable ability and recent close calls will lay the Best Player Never to Have Won a Major label on him as heavily as it was ever worn by Mickelson (who shed it by winning one) or Colin Montgomerie (who shed it by steadily contending in so few). Perhaps more problematic, Garcia's loss at Oakland Hills had a Normanesque quality, as he was beaten by improbably brilliant shots made more damaging by his own untimely errors.

Garcia, winless in 38 majors as a pro, faced familiar questions after his near-miss in prime time at Oakland Hills. Photo By Gregory Shamus/Getty Images