Shark Failure, Harrington Triumph

For four days, Royal Birkdale growled, hissed, snapped, and snarled. Rain incited chaos. Wind instigated mayhem. Combatants were embarrassed, mocked, and ridiculed. Their anguish was obvious.

On Sunday, Padraig Harrington survived the British Open. He scored his second consecutive title. Harrington’s total three over par bested Ian Poulter (+7). Greg Norman and Henrik Stenson (+9) knotted for third. Jim Furyk and Chris Wood (+10) split fifth.

Despite opening Sunday with six pars, Harrington garnered the advantage. His response? Three consecutive bogeys. Fortunately, Harrington steadied with three pars. He then split two birdies and two pars. Eyeing a two stroke advantage, Harrington eagled hole seventeen. He then closed with par.

After logging a bogey-par combination, Poulter bogeyed hole three. He scratched five pars. He then birded hole nine. Following another par-birdie split, Poulter racked five pars. He birdied hole sixteen. He then exited with two pars.

Norman’s collapse was immense. Following three consecutive bogeys, Norman carded two pars. He logged another bogey. He then chalked three pars. Ascending the second nine, Norman was hopeful. Unfortunately, he bogeyed hole ten. He pared hole eleven. He bogeyed holes twelve and thirteen. He then closed with a birdie, three pars, and a final bogey.

In the 1996 Masters, Norman forfeited a six stroke advantage. On Sunday, he surrendered only two strokes. These defeats were dissimilar. However, both epitomized Norman’s legacy. He stared into the abyss and saw nothing. He found his character. He avoided annihilation.