Harrington blows it in LA
Padraig Harrington saw his Target World Challenge hopes go up in smoke as he crashed to a disappointing first round 75 at Sherwood Country Club.
The Dubliner was cruising at two under par after seven holes but bogeyed the eighth, 11th and 13th before running up a nightmare double bogey six at the last to trail clubhouse leaders Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy by seven shots.
Bitterly disappointed with his finish, Harrington groaned: "I made a few silly mental errors there coming in. You do those kind of things when you are tired.
"At the last I was trying to limit the damage but I came back down into the water and then missed a five footer for par.
"If I got in a one over or level it would not have been so bad with 54 holes and some difficult conditions to come. But such is life."
Two under par after five holes, the world No 7 dropped a shot at the eight and another on the par five 11th to crash down the leaderboard.
He was spot on for most of his front nine, hitting every fairway and missing just two greens in regulation as he went to the turn in one under par.
He used the driver sparingly on a scorching December morning in the Hidden Valley, opting for his three-wood and rescue club on most holes.
Playing from the short grass he gave himself several good opportunities for birdie but managed to make just two of them.
At the first, he shaved the hole with a 12-footer but dipped under par for the first time at the par-five second.
After driving onto the downslope, Harrington shoved his long iron approach right of the green but skimmed a superb chip to four feet and tapped in for birdie.
He burned the edge of the hole again, this time from 18 feet at the par-three third. But he was soon two under under when he flew a rescue club to 40 feet at the par five fifth and two putted.
His first big disappointment game at the seventh, where he rifled his approach to eight feet but left his slippery downhill putt in the jaws.
Distracted by some movement behind the tee at the 232 yard eight, he pulled his three-iron tee shot into a deep bunker and then watch in horror as his sand shot got caught up in the collar of rough.
He limited the damage to just one dropped shot with a deft chip and was unlucky not to get it straight back at the ninth
A wedge to eight feet left him with a quick putt down the hill but his effort horseshoed out to leave him two adrift of Woods and Daly at the turn.
The Dubliner then saved an amazing par four at the 10th, where he drove into the right rough and left himself a 100 foot putt up several slopes for birdie.
Fooled by the break, he faced a 30 footer for par but rolled it home to remain in red figures and just three shots adrift of Woods in the group in front.
The world No 1 started brilliantly, holing a snaking 30 footer at the opening hole and picked up two more strokes before the turn, with a 12 footer at the fourth and a two-putt birdie at the long fifth.
Woods got to four under with another birdie at the par-five 11th and played the remainder in level par, despite two three putts.
But he wasn’t having things all his own way as Aussie Geof Ogilvy scorched to six under par with one to play but also double bogeyed the last to join Woods on four under after a 68.