The Harrington Slump.

[Dodger]

Got to say the form of Paddy has been nothing short of crap since winning the PGA last year.He had a rank rotten Ryder Cup and a poor finish to 08 and indeed I would have to say since picking up the Open at Carnoustie 07 despite winning the following years Open again and the PGA his form outside these has been very poor.Seems he only turns in any type of winning performances when confronted with a tough course and losing in the 1st round to Perez today is as good as his 4th missed cut in a row.The guy's a street fighter and never gives up and is going to need all those strengths to turn his form around.

 

[HarryMonk]

I agree he never looked confortable today against an opponent I feel he should have had in his pocket.

 

[Marko77]

Hard to really establish in the coverage whether it was good Perez play or poor Harrington form. I agree re his form in general though. Major wins aside there has not been much to shout about from him. Again - take nothing away from the Major wins, just other players have won Majors and continued to be a consistent force on Tour.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think any thought of a slump are premature. By his own admission by the time the Ryder Cup came Harrington was physically and mentally drained with the extra trappings of being a double major winner (in one season). He has not played that much over the winter and so it is always going ot be hard to come out and fire on all cylinders especially in a format like this. Also historically Harrington is normally pretty slow out of the traps and so I'm not reading too much into it.

 

[Dodger]

But he has only peaked at 3 events in the last what 19 months granted Majors but outside these he has showed nothing and has showed bugger all since August so in my book that's a slump.If this Tiger had a run like this over half that time say 3 months then it most certainly be a slump,the guy is supposed to be World number 4 Homer.

 

[dangermouse]

Whilst he hasn't been playing great, this match play event is fantastic in that anyone can beat anyone. Professional golf seems much more competitive now, with up to 50 guys being capable of winning any event, so I wouldn't read too much into yesterday's result.

From the handful of shots Sky actually showed of the match before I fell asleep, Perez seemed to be playing well - can think of one very long putt he nailed for instance.

 

[bobmac]

I am really p****d off at the coverage of Sky last night.
Sure I know its whatsisname's fist tournament back, but do we need to see so much of him.
I watched over 2 hours coverage and didnt see anything of Poulter, Harrington, Singh, Garcia, Karlsson, Els, or did they show them all after I fell asleep?
Or is it they are not from the USA?

 

[ricardodaintino]

I didn't watch it but the review I read this morning suggested that Harrington didn't exactly bend over and take it, he just had less in him than Perez?

He is a fighter, he's just had eye surgery and match play isn't historically his strongest platform.

And praise where its due Perez and his shiny new TM driver are in great form at the moment. An on-form professional should beat a player off his tempo regardless of how many majors he has, otherwise Tiger would never have lost anything.

 

[Canfordhacker]

So if you had won your club championship in 07 and 08, plus one other "marquee" competition, but only finished mid table other than that, you would automatically categorize your own golf as "crap"?

Not sure I'd see it that way personally...

 

[Dodger]

I would be worried that my form wasn't great yes espec if I wasn't making buffer zone in my last 4 events which would be akin to missing the cut.

 

[thecraw]

I blame it on his new shoes, chasing the dollar!

 

[KeefG]

I wouldnt say he's in a "slump", as someone has already mentioned he was physically & mentally knackered at the end of last season.

He's hardly played this season with the Buick invitational being his 1st outing.

Pod knows he can win majors now, and all that will be in his mind is that he wants to peak 4 times this year, i would imagine he wont be too fussed about not winning most of the other tournaments, as long as he starts hitting form around the time of the majors he'll be pleased.

 

[Macster]

I am really p****d off at the coverage of Sky last night.
Sure I know its whatsisname's fist tournament back, but do we need to see so much of him.
I watched over 2 hours coverage and didnt see anything of Poulter, Harrington, Singh, Garcia, Karlsson, Els, or did they show them all after I fell asleep?
Or is it they are not from the USA?

Absolutely.

The yanks are so damned insular its untrue, I was over there last week and in 8days, all the channels covered was 'will he wont he play' ,......tedious and boring.

 

[muttleee]

The problem is that Tiger is the guy most "casual" golf fans want to see. I read a while back that viewing figures are always substantially higher (like 25% plus) when he's in the field for a tournament, especially if he's in contention. While more "hardcore" golf fans (like most of the people on this forum, I would imagine) want to see a range of pros in action, Joe Public only wants to see Tiger, so the networks have to show a lot of him if they want to boost their viewing figures.

I wonder if sales of GM go up when Tiger's on the cover? Anyone out there from the mag who can say if that's the case..?

 

[Imurg]

On the Sky coverage, what did we really expect? The world number 1 has been out of action for 8 months - now he's back. Every Director/Producer out there is going to show as much of him as possible - yes to the detriment of everyone else - but he's the TOP Man. Did we really expect to see anyone else playing?? I didn't.

 

[vig]

I sky+'d it and watched it this morning.
I remember one of the comentators saying that the network viewing figures in the states had slumped by up to 60% in some tournies. Is he THAT improtant to their tour? I guess he is.

Gotta agree with other comments in that about 10% of the coverage wasn't on Tigers match and the bulk of that when he'd finished. Christ it even showed him walking to his suv.

I quite like Tiger but I WANT to watch the others.

 

[USER1999]

Thing with Paddy is that the Masters is what, a month away? He needs to find some form soon, or the paddyslam is a non starter.

 

[rgs]

His form is a problem but as Homer stated he is usually a slow starter and has rarely played well in this event.

He has admitted he is about 2 weeks behind where he would like to be so hopefully he will be on form around the Masters.