Padraig Harrington isn’t done yet making his mark on the world of professional golf but he has done enough to receive recognition from the World Golf Hall of Fame. Harrington, 51, will be enshrined among the Class of 2024 in ceremonies that will take place on June 10, 2024 in Pinehurst, N.C.
“This is very exciting, obviously huge honor,” Harrington said. “It’s somewhat humbling. At this stage of my life, it gives me some validation to what I’ve done in golf. Brings back a flood of memories. This is a deep-down satisfaction, and I’m very proud to be included with the players before me.
“Seeing your name beside the names that I’ve looked up to as a boy and young golfer, it’s very nice. Everybody on the ballot deserves to be there. It’s unfortunate that everyone can’t be in, but it’s great to be included in the Class of 2024.”
PGA TOUR
Rory McIlroy was looking forward to playing the weekend at the Players Championship, which he did, only not in the manner to which he’s accustomed.
Almost certain to miss the cut when darkness descended on TPC Sawgrass during his Friday stint on the back nine, McIlroy had to return early Saturday morning to finish his round and make his “MC” official. There was no heroic charge and he left, having broken par in neither of his two rounds alongside eventual champion Scottie Scheffler. He missed the cut by three strokes, having signed to rounds of 76 and 73.
“Just very blah,” McIlroy said of his 36 holes at Sawgrass. “If you’re a little off, it definitely magnifies where you’re off. I actually don’t feel like I’m playing that badly at all. A few miscues here and there, putted it off the sixth green yesterday.”
Media speculation that his extracurricular activities on behalf of the PGA Tour were taking a toll on him were not shot down by McIlroy.
“It’s fair,” McIlroy said. “I’d love to get back to being [just] a golfer. Honestly, it’s been a busy sort of six or eight months. It’s just the time management. The golf out here, that’s fine, but it’s just more the time at home to make sure you’re getting prepared, to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to be ready once you show up to these weeks. That’s where I’ve maybe sacrificed a little bit of time with some of this other stuff.”
McIlroy said that the only competitive golf he will play between now and the Masters will be next week’s Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Tex.
Shane Lowry was on the bubble come Saturday morning. His rounds of 77 and 69 were looking as if he would end up on the wrong side of the cut line. But the field came back to him and others with his score early on Saturday, and they were then good to go when the third round commenced.
The wait proved worth it as Lowry shot 68 and 70 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to earn a share of 35th place, 13 strokes off Scheffler’s winning number.
“The last three days are as good golf as I can play,” Lowry said (Scheffler shot four strokes better during the final 54 holes). “I need to find something on the greens the next couple of weeks.”
Lowry, too, will use the Match Play as his sole Masters prep.
Seamus Power had the weekend off after rounds of 74 and 76.
DP WORLD TOUR
Tom McKibbin broke 70 in four rounds of the Magical Kenya Open in Nairobi, leading to a joint-25th place finish. A 68 on Saturday was the lone deviation from the 69s that he otherwise posted.
McKibbin had a slight chance of contending on Sunday, when he teed off six shots off the lead. But bogeys at the first and third holes made that task insurmountable. A nine-stroke gap separated him and champion Jorge Campillo.
Gary Hurley, 146 (72-74), and John Murphy, 157 (79-78), both missed the cut, which fell at 1-under-par 141.
