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Ten years after claiming his first PGA Tour victory in this same event, 43-year-old Padraig Harrington broke a seven-year U.S. drought by winning the Honda Classic on the second hole of a sudden death playoff with rookie Daniel Berger.  Playing on a sponsor exemption, Harrington managed to survive an event which was buffeted by rain (mandating a Monday finish) and which saw some dramatic leaderboard fluctuations during a final round which started late Saturday afternoon.  The finale began with England’s Ian Poulter holding a three-shot after carding rounds of 71-64-66, then falling apart behind a double-bogey at the par-3 5th after cold shanking his tee shot with an 8 iron.  A triple-bogey seven at the 14th further derailed Poulter’s hopes, though he gamely rallied with birdies at the 17th and 18th to miss the playoff by a shot.  England’s Paul Casey missed a 20-foot birdie putt at the last to also miss by one, and American Patrick Reed also fell by the wayside, remaining in contention through 14 holes before playing holes 15-17 in four over par and tumbling to a tie for seventh.  Harrington, meanwhile, stumbled to an outgoing 38 to seemingly disappear before reeling off four straight birdies at holes 11-14 to climb into the lead, then lost it by double-bogeying the watery 17th before holing a clutch 15-footer for birdie at the last.  This tied him with the 21-year-old Berger, a South Florida native, who’d earlier birdied the 17th and 18th to card a closing 64.  Berger would miss a 15-footer to win on the first extra hole (the 18th), then look on as Harrington stuck a 5 iron to two feet at the second (the 17th) to clinch victory...............Six weeks after he claimed his maiden E Tour title at the South African Open, England’s Andy Sullivan returned to Johannesburg and won again, this time at the Joburg Open, where he edged a quintet of players by two shots.  In an event played over both of the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club’s courses, Sullivan carded an opening 71 to trail first round leader Nic Henning by nine strokes (Henning would miss the cut with rounds of 62-78) before charging into the fray with middle rounds of 65-68 over the club’s easier East course.  He then played the East’s par-37 outward half in 32 on Sunday, putting him in the middle of a pitched battle that often saw a dozen players bunched within two shots of the lead.  But with Saturday leader Wallie Coetsee playing only par golf through 17 holes, Sullivan’s homeward 34 was enough to run past Coetsee and also stay just out in front of everyone else, with a birdie at the last finalizing his two-stroke victory margin.

Posted on Sunday, March 1, 2015 at 07:24PM by Registered CommenterDaniel | Comments Off