FRISCO, Texas – Padraig Harrington was on cruise control through 45 holes of the 83rd KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Until suddenly, he wasn’t.
Bogey-free through 51 holes, the golf gods finally got a hold of the Irishman’s game on the par-4 16th.
“The second shot was kind of innocuous because the pin was so tight,” Harrington told reporters following his third-round 68. “I was just playing 15 feet left of it and to be honest, yeah, I just, I wasn’t — I do that sometimes, I just wasn’t focused, I wasn’t into it and I hit a bad shot in the hazard.”
The double bogey, while untimely, was somewhat of a sigh of relief for Harrington.
“I’m glad I broke my par streak,” he said. “It’s not good not to have made a bogey. That’s not a good thing. I know that sounds strange.”
Standing over his tee shot on the par-3 17th, Harrington held the same club that caused his trouble on 16. Opting to be aggressive, Harrington nipped the flag stick resulting in an easy par.
On 18, the three-time major winner leaked his tee shot off to the right, playing it off of the lateral hazard line. Needing a par to remain tied with a surging Steve Stricker, Harrington got up and down out of a greenside bunker to birdie the par-5 last and takes a one-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round. The birdie not only gives him the overnight lead, but gives Harrington a boost of confidence despite slipping down the stretch.
“It’s always nice to hole a putt on the last,” he told Golfweek. “Yeah. So you’re dead right, it creates a bit of momentum, for sure.”
Heading into Saturday’s third round, it seemed like it was Harrington’s tournament to lose. But former Ryder Cup captain and 2023 co-captain, Steve Stricker, took it upon himself to close the gap and apply pressure.
Five shots back to begin the day and six back at one point during Saturday’s round, Stricker stormed out of the gates with a 4-under 32 on the front nine.
“I mean, all you can do is continue to keep trying to make birdies,” he told reporters. “I was in a position to try to be aggressive and try to hit good shots, make putts, try to make birdies. That was the mindset. Also not trying to make a bogey. I figured if I could go bogey-free today I needed a good round to get right back in there. We got one more round and a lot of golf left.”
Doubling down on a solid front nine, Stricker followed his gameplan to a tee, posting a bogey-free 64, tying the course record set…
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