Harrington survives double scare
Padraig Harrington survived two huge scares to help Europe salvage a disastrous foursomes performance at Valhalla.
Troubled by a neck injury, the Dubliner was far from his best alongside nervous Swede Robert Karlsson but came to the rescue with the putter to grab a half with American birdie machines Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson.
A last gasp half for Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia against Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk allowed Europe to limp away just 3-1 down going into the fourballs.
And Harrington was both relieved and frustrated to end up with a half after blowing a three hole lead with six to play and then missing a 10 footer for the match at the 18th.
Harrington said: "I think we're disappointed. We had a chance at the last hole. We had a putt to win from ten feet and I thought I had holed it.
"Besides that, we can't be disappointed. We did as well as we could. We didn't leave too many shots out there. You know, we fought really hard and took a lot of opportunities.
"We turned over a number of holes out there, so we can't complain about the halve, even though it would have been very sweet to get the win there."
The pressure was on Harrington from the start as he opted to hit the opening tee shot and split the fairway with the driver.
And while he holed a six footer at the first to put Europe one up, he hardly hit a fairway after that as both pairs racked up the errors.
Harrington was to blame at the short third, where his six-iron tee shot kicked into a hazard 30 yards right of the green to gift the hole to the Americans.
The European pair stole the sixth with a gutsy par four before losing the short eighth to go into the back nine all square.
But they hit top gear to win the 10th, 11th and 12th with brilliant birdies and go three up before Mickelson weaved some magic to turn the match around.
After Karlsson's missed four footer gave the US the 13th in par, Mickelson produced a magical flop shot to four feet at the 14th to win that one in par and then slotted a crucial 15 footer at the next to square the match and heap the pressure on Harrington and the Swede.
But the Dubliner dug deep to save Europe from losing four holes on the spin when he drained a gutsy 15 footer for a half at the 16th and then set up another European escape with a deft sand shot at the 17th.
The triple Major winner had a chance to snatch a win for Europe at the death but was gutted to miss a 10 footer for a winning birdie at the 18th after Kim had failed to get out of a greenside bunker.
Harrington said: "It was classic match play because it wasn't classic golf. I certainly struggled a bit with my swing, but thankfully myself and Robert knew what to expect of each other.
"We knew that we were not going to play orthodox golf and we were going to get it up-and-down. We did that. We did ever so well. I don't think we ever let up on any single shot out there. You know, that's all you can ask yourself."
Harrington had treatment on his neck from physio Dale Richardson after eight holes but dismissed the injury scare as a minor blip.
He said: "It's fine. It was just a little stiff through six or seven holes. I was worried about it getting worse rather than anything else and it seems to be fine. It's warmed up nicely with the heat."
Mickelson was impressed with Harrington's fighting qualities but disappointed that his partnership with young gun Kim failed to spark.
He said: "They played some great golf and Padraig made some great putts. That putt he holed on the 16th to keep them from going down was a huge putt because they would have lost four holes in a row.
"Fortunately we were able to win those three to get back to even and I thought we might have a chance on 17 and 18 but unfortunately, we couldn't make a birdie.
"Still, we're grateful to get out of the match with a half after being three down with six to go. We wanted this so bad that we were a little tight on some shots. We have got to freewheel a little bit this afternoon and play more relaxed and see if we can make some more birdies."