Harrington and Garcia at odds again

From Brian Keogh in Augusta

Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia have clashed again - this time with words not clubs.

Surly Spaniard Garcia was spitting fire over the “tricky” course set up at Augusta National that Harrington felt was almost too easy this year.

After finishing 38th, a shot behind his Irish arch-rival on one-over, Garcia snarled: “I don’t like it, to tell you the truth. I don’t think it’s fair. You know, it’s just too tricky.

“Then when you drive you still get mud balls in the middle of the fairway, so it’s too much of a guessing game.”

Asked how they might improved the set up, Garcia spat: “I don’t care what they do, it’s not my problem. I just come here and play and then go home and that’s about it.”

Harrington had every reason to feel hard done by after racking up five penalty shots during a week that saw players make 34 eagles and 977 birdies compared to 19 eagles and 758 birdies last year.

An easy course set up did not suit Harrington's grinding style but the Dubliner still took his 35th place Masters finish on the chin and left the course scratching his head over Garcia’s outburst.

Harrington said: “I’m baffled. The golf course is fantastic. I liked it when it was difficult. Obviously, it wasn’t difficult this week. It was as easy as it’s ever going to be.

“I like the idea the tournament committee have control over the golf course to set it up for whatever scoring they want and I think this week they set it up for generous scoring.

“That’s what they’ve got, plenty of birdies. I expect to come back in another couple of years and be tested on the other end of things, where par is going to be the winning score.

“It just shows what a great golf course this is – that they can really dictate how we are going to play it and what we are going to shoot on it."