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Padraig Harrington took care of business in blemish-free fashion Sunday in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.
The PGA Tour Champions newcomer, 50, made five birdies in a round of 67 at En-Joie Golf Course to finish 16-under for a three-shot victory over Thongchai Jaidee (66) and 36-hole leader Mike Weir (71).
The sky above En-Joie scowled most of the afternoon, but upon completion of a garden-variety two-putt at the last Irish eyes twinkled as the 50-year-old from Dublin rang up his second victory of the season to go with the U.S. Senior Open.
Sunday brought Harrington a sixth top-3 finish in his most recent eight PGA Tour Champions starts.
With playing competitor Weir stuck mostly in neutral, Harrington made three front-side birdies and another couple at 11 and 12.
Harrington’s three-stroke margin of victory is the largest on the PGA Tour Champions since Steven Alker won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship by three strokes in May. Harrington becomes the fourth multiple winner on tour this season, joining three-time champions Steven Alker, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jerry Kelly.
Turns out, En-Joie’s putting surfaces were to the champion’s liking from the get-go.
Round 1:Dick’s Open Round 1: Darren Clarke, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh tied up top
Round 2:Mike Weir sets the pace heading to final round of Dick’s Sporting Goods Open
“I really like the greens, greens were awesome,” he said. “I committed to giving my putts a run all week, which I did and I holed my fair share. Played nicely. The golf course suited me.
“Yeah, I knew I had to avoid some of the water holes, the par-3s, good to play well and as it turned out, I played them really well barring I had one errant shot that had more to do with distraction rather than a bad swing. I hit it close on the par-3s and probably broke the back of the course by playing those holes well.”
Jaidee shot 66. It was the seventh top-10 of the season for Jaidee, 52-year-old from Thailand and winner of the mid-June American Family Insurance Championship. In fact, Sunday brought the fifth top-8 in his most recent seven startsHe played the front side in 4-under and his lone deviation from par on the back came via a pitch-in for eagle-2 at the 16th.
“I played great today. I start very well, started make birdie on first hole, second hole we have three-putt. I think the key for me, I putting well and the golf course is very good shape,” he said. “I love the golf course, the greens are fantastic. I not miss anything, good up-and-down a couple holes, that’s why the key make me a lot confident.”
Jim Furyk shared fourth with Vijay Singh on the strength of a closing 68, marking a sound return from an extended stint away from competition triggered by COVID-19.“You know, I’m still not _ I still don’t have a ton of energy,” he said. “I actually rode this week, first time I’ve ever done it, but I feel pretty good. Happy with the way I played. I think it’s my best finish of the season so far, so to kind of have that much time off and then come back and play that well is a lot of fun.
“There’s still some things I want to work on in my game, but excited to play well here at Dick’s and I love the course at Warwick Hills next week at Ally, so excited to kind of get there and hopefully carry some of this momentum into next week.”
Furyk’s most recent start before the Dick’s Open came in the late-June U.S. Senior Open (T25).
Bernhard Langer, 2014 Dick’s Open champion and soon to turn 65, took a share of sixth following a bogey-free round of 68 that featured an eagle-3 at the 12th.
John Daly, playing a course on which he won in 1992 _ the B.C. Open, forerunner to the senior event _ played his final 36 in 7-under and finished T24, his third-best of the season and following a T23 last week when he went 73-68-67.
Defending champion Cameron Beckman finished T68 (2-over 218).
But back to the winner.
A win is a win is a win, of course. But the week in Endicott was made considerably more special for Harrington.
“My kids _ my wife has been to plenty of wins, but my kids have been at some wins but they were only toddlers so they wouldn’t know what was going on. This is the first time I’ve won where they’re grown up and can understand it more and experience it more. In that sense it was a little bit emotional. You know, I’m happy that they could share the experience and enjoy it.”
Dick’s Sporting Goods Open Round 3 Scores
Padraig Harrington 66-67-67 – 200
Thongchai Jaidee 70-67-66 – 203
Mike Weir 67-65-71 – 203
Jim Furyk 65-71-68 – 204
Vijay Singh 65-70-69 – 204
Ken Tanigawa 69-69-68 – 206
Darren Clarke 65-72-69 – 206
Bernhard Langer 71-67-68 – 206
Gene Sauers 69-67-70 – 206
Brandt Jobe 67-74-66 – 207
Miguel Angel Jiménez 72-69-66 – 207
Alex Cejka 68-70-69 – 207
Shane Bertsch 68-69-70 – 207
Tom Pernice Jr. 68-68-71 – 207
Duffy Waldorf 66-75-67 – 208
Scott Parel 70-70-68 – 208
Steve Flesch 69-70-69 – 208
Rocco Mediate 70-69-69 – 208
Ken Duke 70-69-69 – 208
Stuart Appleby 68-70-70 – 208
Paul Broadhurst 68-69-71 – 208
Scott McCarron 68-69-71 – 208
Ernie Els 67-68-73 – 208
Colin Montgomerie 72-71-66 – 209
Tim Petrovic 73-67-69 – 209
John Daly 72-67-70 – 209
Doug Barron 69-68-72 – 209
Billy Mayfair 72-69-69 – 210
Bob Estes 74-65-71 – 210
Michael Allen 70-69-71 – 210
Jeff Maggert 71-74-66 – 211
John Senden 74-70-67 – 211
Dicky Pride 71-72-68 – 211
Ricardo Gonzalez 71-71-69 – 211
Marco Dawson 69-71-71 – 211
David Toms 70-69-72 – 211
Steven Alker 71-74-67 – 212
Paul Goydos 69-73-70 – 212
David McKenzie 70-70-72 – 212
Joe Durant 69-70-73 – 212
Brett Quigley 70-69-73 – 212
Matt Gogel 70-68-74 – 212
Jay Haas 71-74-68 – 213
Jeff Sluman 73-72-68 – 213
David Duval 72-70-71 – 213
Y.E. Yang 67-73-73 – 213
Andrew Johnson 68-70-75 – 213
Kevin Sutherland 75-69-70 – 214
Mike Goodes 72-70-72 – 214
Joey Sindelar 72-70-72 – 214
Rob Labritz 69-69-76 – 214
Scott Dunlap 72-72-71 – 215
David Branshaw 74-70-71 – 215
Fred Funk 70-71-74 – 215
Russ Cochran 71-70-74 – 215
Corey Pavin 69-69-77 – 215
David Frost 72-76-68 – 216
Billy Andrade 70-72-74 – 216
Mario Tiziani 69-73-74 – 216
Kent Jones 71-71-74 – 216
Tom Byrum 72-72-73 – 217
Woody Austin 71-73-73 – 217
Robert Allenby 72-72-73 – 217
Chris DiMarco 71-72-74 – 217
Lee Janzen 76-67-74 – 217
Wes Short, Jr. 75-67-75 – 217
Glen Day 70-71-76 – 217
Tim Bogue 75-72-71 – 218
Roger Rowland 74-72-72 – 218
Cameron Beckman 73-70-75 – 218
Rod Pampling 71-75-73 – 219
Robert Karlsson 74-71-74 – 219
Jesper Parnevik 72-75-73 – 220
Olin Browne 74-72-74 – 220
Tom Gillis 74-71-76 – 221
Tim Herron 73-77-72 – 222
John Huston 72-75-76 – 223
Michael Muehr 75-74-75 – 224
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