Majors, PGA Tour Champions, PGA of AmericaBrian KeoghKitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Padraig Harrington, Steve Stricker

Harrington outgunned by Stricker in playoff for KitchenAid Senior PGA

Majors, PGA Tour Champions, PGA of AmericaBrian KeoghKitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Padraig Harrington, Steve Stricker
Harrington outgunned by Stricker in playoff for KitchenAid Senior PGA

Steve Stricker hugs his daughter and caddie Izzi following his win

Pádraig Harrington had to settle for second best to Steve Stricker yet again when he lost to his 2021 Ryder Cup nemesis at the first playoff hole in the KitchenAid PGA Championship in Dallas.

The American closed with a three-under 69 to the Dubliner’s 70 to force sudden death on 18-under par, then took his fifth senior Major with a par on the first extra hole at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco.

It was a second Major win of the season for Stricker, who outgunned the Dubliner in the final round of the Regions Tradition earlier this month.  Harrington was one clear of Stricker and a three ahead of Stewart Cink heading into the final round, but felt he’d let the field off the hook by following an opening 64 with successive 68s.

“Probably yesterday was the day I played great yesterday,” Harrington said. “I created so many chances. I left a few out there. Today, it's always going to be a tough day on the final day. That's what playing in the last round of a tournament is in contention. Slight things.”

He turned in two-under 34 to Stricker’s 33 to leave them tied heading down the stretch.
Stricker birdied the 11th to nip ahead and after both men bogeyed the 12th, the American chipped in for birdie at the 13th to go two clear on 19-under par.

Harrington birdied the 15th to get back within one before there was drama over the closing holes.
At the 16th, the Dubliner hit his tee shot into the gallery and hit a spectator on the head, getting a favourable bounce in the direction of the fairway.

He handed the man a signed glove, declared that wasn’t enough and removed a handful of notes from his bulging wallet, gifting the man what commentators estimated was $300 for his trouble.

“ I bought him a dinner,” Harrington said. “He nutted my ball back to the fairway. So, yeah, like, you give him a glove, but it never really seems adequate to give a guy a glove. He's a grown man, like what's he want with a glove with my signature? So I thought -- he said his wife was inside -- but, please take your wife out for dinner on me was the sort of thing. I don't know, I hope I gave him enough for dinner. (Laughing.) 300 dollars should cover it, wouldn't it?”

Both men overshot the par-three 17th and made bogeys to set up a dramatic finale.

Harrington needed a birdie at the par-five 18th and he got it two putting from around 40 feet for his four as Stricker laid up but failed to get his birdie after an average third.

Returning to the 18th for the playoff, Harrington drove into the penalty area on the right but after opting to play from deep grass on a downslope, he drilled his second deeper in the hazard and had to drop out.

Stricker had laid up short of the green in two but while Harrington lashed a 272-yard five-wood to around 15 feet in four, he failed to hole his par putt to extend the playoff.

“You know, right now I'm disappointed,” Harrington said. “You always look at the final round and you go, if I knew then what I know now. And that's experience. I think, yeah, I think, what, 18-under made the playoff. Yeah, I should have done that.”

Paying tribute to Stricker, he added: “I will have to say, Steve is probably the toughest guy you could ever play on a Sunday. He has to have the best wedge game in the world. He's a fabulous putter, he's a fabulous chipper, but his wedge play like at the first 15 holes was just spectacular.

“It was getting to the stage where it looked like he would hole a wedge. I know he did this week. But it was very impressive. So Steve is, he is probably, in a match play situation, he's somebody you don't want to be playing against, because he can hit a great wedge, he can hit a great iron shot when he has to.

“He hit a fabulous shot into 10 from over 200 yards. I know that would be underrated, but he can play the golf. And then he obviously can hit a great wedge. And he's a good putter. So he's probably the hardest guy you ever, one of the harder guys to come up against in that situation.”

Stewart Cink was third on 16-under, two shots outside the playoff after a 69 with Darren Clarke tied for fifth on nine-under-par after a closing 72.