Golf

Brendon Todd claims first PGA title with two-shot win

Harrington’s challenge falters but performance full of encouragement

Padraig Harrington plays a shot from the bunker on the ninth hole during the final round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Padraig Harrington plays a shot from the bunker on the ninth hole during the final round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Brian Keogh
Mon May 19 2014 - 11:05


Brendon Todd claimed his first PGA Tour title with a two-shot victory at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas.

The 28-year-old was playing in the final group of the day with fellow overnight leader Louis Oosthuizen, but, while his South African playing partner struggled to a disappointing 74, Todd kept his calm to fire a bogey-free 66 and finish 14 under.

Mike Weir finished second after a second consecutive 67, with the 2003 Masters champion showing some signs of the form that fired him into the top five in the world.

As for Pádraig Harrington, he may well look back on the Championship as a watershed performance in terms of getting his short game and putting back on track.

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Despite the fact that a wild performance off the tee early in the day cost him his chance of winning big for first time since he captured his third major at Oakland Hills in 2008, the 42-year-old looks as though he has turned a corner on and around the greens.

Just two shots behind Oosthuizen and Todd starting the day, he hit just one fairway on the front nine, mixing two birdies with two bogeys and a double bogey six to go out in 37 and fall six shots off the pace.

But even though he three-putted for the first time all week chasing a birdie at the 10th, he showed that his short game is getting back to its best when his 62-yard pitch to the 11th one-hopped straight into the cup – and freakishly popped out again.

He tapped in for birdie to get back to two over for the day and made another miraculous par save after overshooting the par-three 13th.

But as he feared on the eve of last night’s final round, it was always going to be a tough task to jump straight in at the deep end having struggled for form for so long.

"If I was being honest, I would say to you, generally you build yourself up for these things," he said of his chances. "You go a few weeks of nice form – like Martin Kaymer; he played well before he got to Sawgrass – and generally that's how it happens.

“I’ll try and take my chances if they come round. If not, it’s where I want to be anyway and I’ve seen some good form in my game, some nice signs.”

Harrington has been working so hard to get his short game back to its best that he took to Twitter for the first time last week, posting a picture of a hotel room window he broke with the words: “500 reasons not to practice in your hotel.”

He frequently chips into the curtains at night but it was his driving that meant curtains for his hopes of winning last night and a nervy start, where he hooked a fairway metal into the crowd at the first, set the tone for the day.

Stymied by a tree, he went through the green with his approach but hit a fantastic 40-yard pitch that trickled down a tier to 15 feet from where he poured in the putt.

Forced to chip and putt for par at the short second and safely negotiating the third, where he had driven into the water on Friday and Saturday, he pulled his tee shot into the hazard at the fourth before saving a great bogey from seven feet. A drive out of bounds at the sixth put paid to his title chances, however, as he ran up a double bogey six to fall six shots off the lead.

He hit back with a two-putt birdie at the seventh but bogeyed from the rough at the ninth to turn six shots behind co-leaders Marc Leishman and Brendon Todd.