Harrington needs Luck of the Irish

Updated: March 24, 2005, 6:59 PM ET

By Jason Sobel | ESPN.com

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Ever heard of the Luck of the Irish?

Of course you have.

Now someone just has to introduce this little phenomenon to Padraig Harrington.

Harrington has 26 career worldwide runner-up finishes, including each of the past two years at Sawgrass.

You might be wondering why the sixth-ranked player in the world even needs any luck. Well, just look at the numbers.

Last year, Harrington finished in second place at The Players Championship. The year before that? Second place.

Playing follow the leader is more than just a trend for Harrington; it's a way of life. Sure, he won the Honda Classic two weeks ago for his first career PGA Tour win. And OK, so he has nine other international victories.

But he also owns a whopping 26 second-place finishes worldwide.

That's right, folks: The man from Dublin has been doublin' and triplin' his runner-up total over the past few years.

Let's just say the Irishman had a right to be a little green with envy. And if he told you to kiss something other than his Blarney stone, well, that might be understandable, too.

After all, it took a little pre-St. Patrick's Day luck – the good kind this time – for him to claim his first PGA Tour win at the Honda Classic. Competing with Vijay Singh on the second playoff hole, Harrington saw the No. 1 player uncharacteristically miss a two-foot putt, giving him his first victory on U.S. soil just four days before the annual Irish festival known as Lá Fhéile Pádraig.

Now that he has finally got the leprechaun off his back and a win under his belt, you might think Harrington would be itching to get back on tour this week. You'd be wrong.

"I certainly didn't want to come," Harrington said Wednesday.

No, he isn't still a bit despondent from his close calls at Sawgrass the past two years. Instead, Harrington wanted to remain in Ireland with his father, Paddy, who has cancer and became ill recently.

"This situation only came about last Wednesday," said Harrington, who returned to Ireland after his Honda triumph. "I'd rather not be here. But the fact that I'm here means that I'm going to go out there and try to do my job as professionally as I can."

On Thursday, that meant putting golf before his father, if only for a few hours. It meant four birdies in his first eight holes. And it meant a 5-under 67, good enough for a share of eighth place.

"Obviously, [my mind] wasn't where I wanted it to be today at times," Harrington said. "I was slightly distracted at times, and I did struggle with my concentration."

Let's hope Harrington is able to keep his concentration for three more days. Let's hope Paddy gets to see his boy win another one. Let's hope that string of second-place finishes is a thing of the past.

And let's hope that Harrington finds a little Luck of the Irish this week. The good kind, of course.

Jason Sobel is ESPN.com's golf editor. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com.

Jones' 8-under 64 leads TPC

Updated: March 25, 2005, 8:37 AM ET

Associated Press

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- There's more than the Big Four at The Players Championship.

Vijay Singh matched his best start ever on the TPC at Sawgrass. Phil Mickelson lit up the tame course with seven birdies inside 4 feet, only to give away five strokes with shots that went under trees and under water.

Tiger Woods stalled. Ernie Els never got going.

"Then along came Jones," said former U.S. Open champion Steve Jones, who stole the spotlight with an 8-under 64 in the lowest first-round scoring at Sawgrass in nine years.

The Players Championship had its share of surprises Thursday, none bigger than Jones, who dabbled in commercial real estate last year when he thought an elbow injury might end his career, winding up atop the leaderboard.

"Dig up the archives here," said Fred Funk, who joined Zach Johnson and Lee Westwood at 65.

Funk was only slightly startled when his caddie looked at the leaderboard and noticed that Jones had just completed a bogey-free round at 64, one off the course record.

"I go, 'Steve Jones shot 8 under? Where did he come from?"' Funk said.

Last seen riding around in a cart as an assistant captain at the Ryder Cup, Jones made seven birdies in eight holes on a TPC at Sawgrass course that was so soft that the fairways could not be mowed.

An elbow injury kept him away from competition all of last year. He hasn't won since 1998.

"Eight birdies, no bogeys. That's a good thing, right?" Jones said, showing he hasn't forgotten everything about life on the PGA Tour.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that first-round scoring at Sawgrass (71.87) was the lowest since 1996, the year Jones won the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills.

"I think he's healthy now," Singh said. "He's no mug. He can play."

Singh continued to show the best form of the Big Four, matching his best start ever at The Players Championship with a 5-under 67 that was highlighted by two good par saves in the middle of his round and a mammoth tee shot on the 18th that set up a birdie.

The others broke par, but couldn't keep up with Jones. Mickelson and Woods had a 70, while Els was at 71.

It was the first time all four of them broke par in the first round.

Big deal.

Sawgrass has rarely been this soft and still, and it showed in the low scores. Even the island-green 17th, the most daunting par 3 in golf, played under par.

Three players holed out from the fairway for eagle, as the pins were cut in accessible positions.

"They're all pretty much the easiest pins we'll see," Mickelson said.

It was no surprise that 87 players were at par or better, and 29 players were in the 60s.

Westwood had a chance to join Jones at the top until he missed a 5-foot birdie putt on his final hole, the par-5 ninth.

Sergio Garcia was among those at 6-under 66, although the 25-year-old Spaniard was slightly disappointed after ripping a 3-wood from 281 yards over a tree and onto the green at the ninth, where it rolled by the hole to about 8 feet. He missed that eagle putt, and missed a 3-footer for birdie on No. 4.

Jones thought his career might be over when he suffered a severe elbow injury two years ago. His health returned, but it wasn't until a recent conversation withHale Irwin that Jones decided to kick it into gear. He wouldn't divulge details of the motivational speech, but the gist was to stop complaining and go to work.

"I've felt that something was going to happen soon," Jones said.

The birdies came in bunches - seven of them in an eight-hole stretch, including putts of 25, 40 and 50 feet. The most important might have been the shortest, when his tee shot landed in a divot on No. 4, leaving him a delicate 90-yard shot over water to a front hole location.

"I could have complained about it, but I said, 'You know how to hit this shot.' I just choked way down on a pitching wedge ... and I hit it a foot," Jones said. "That was a big turning point."

Singh cared only about a good start, not that he was three off the lead. He has lost on the final hole each of the last two weeks, but got into Sunday contention after having to recover from indifferent starts.

"It's nice to start off a tournament in contention for a change," Singh said. "Normally, I'm chasing. Five under is a good start for me."

It was his best since he opened with a 67 in 2001, the year he was runner-up to Woods in The Players Championship.

Woods birdied two of his first three holes, but was aggravated over missing three birdie putts inside 8 feet, one that led to a three-putt par on the par-5 16th.

"You just can't afford to do that," he said.

Mickelson was fascinating as usual with a mixture of brilliance and bad shots, and no hole captured that like No. 5. He hit his tee shot so far to the right that it went beyond the bunker and nearly in the water. Then, he hit a low bullet out of the rough that ran up onto the green to within 2 feet for birdie.

He made seven birdies, the longest of which was 4 feet.

But he was wild at times, hitting under a tree on the par-3 eighth to make double bogey, barely finding land on the island-green 17th for bogey and hitting 3-wood into the water on the 18th.

"It was feast or famine," he said. "If I had three birdies and bogey, it would have been a great round. But because I had so many birdies, and so many chances to turn it into a great round and didn't, that's what is disappointing."

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press

First-round Indonesia Open scores

Updated: March 24, 2005, 1:39 PM ET

Associated Press

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JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Scores Thursday from the first round of the $1 million Indonesia Open at the par-6,851, par-70 Cengkareng Golf Club (57 players failed to complete the round due to rain):

Arjun Atwal, India                  30-32--62  8-under
Michael Hoey, Ireland               32-30--62



Chris Williams, South Africa        32-31--63  7-under
Matthew Cort, England               30-33--63

Ron Won, United States              32-32--64  6-under  
Scott Bar, Australia                32-32--64
Andrew Buckle, Australia            31-33--64
Eiji Mizoguchi, Japan               34-30--64
Gaurav Ghei, India                  32-32--64

Nicolas Colsaerts, Belgium          33-32--65  5-under
Mardan Mamat, Singapore             34-31--65
Boonchu Ruangkit, Thailand          33-32--65
Shiv Kapur, India                   33-32--65
Roope Kakko, Finland                33-32--65
Sam Little, England                 31-34--65
Sam Walker, England                 34-31--65
Mike Cunning, United States         33-32--65
Johan Skold, Sweden                 33-32--65

Adam Fraser, Australia              36-30--66  4-under
Thongchai Jaidee, Thailand          32-34--66
Brad Kennedy, Australia             31-35--66
Peter Fowler, Australia             33-33--66
Anthony Kang, United States         33-33--66
Richard Moir, Australia             32-34--66

Colin Montgomerie, Scotland         34-33--67  3-under
Rick Gibson, Canada                 35-32--67
Gary Simpson, Australia             32-35--67
Wang Ter-chang, Taiwan              33-34--67
Matthew Morris, England             34-33--67
Stephen Browne, Ireland             35-32--67
Frankie Minoza, Philippines         32-35--67
David Griffiths, Canada             31-36--67
Vernon Sexton-Finck, Australia      32-35--67
Pablo Del Olmo, Mexico              36-31--67

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press