AUGUSTA, Ga. — Padraig Harrington needed to make a charge Saturday in the Masters for a shot at a third straight major.
Instead, he hit a tree.
And then he hit the same tree again.
When his debacle at the par-5 second hole ended with a quadruple-bogey 9, the Irishman was out of luck. Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan are the only players to win three different majors in succession, and it’s almost certain to stay that way.
“Obviously, I didn’t expect to take a 9 at the second, but it happens in golf,” Harrington said. “You have to put up with it.”
Harrington made five birdies after that and scratched out a 1-over 73, but as he looked back at the large leaderboard behind the 18th green, he saw the leaders 10 shots ahead with no indication they would come back to him.
For him, the Masters was over.
“I would think so,” he said. “I don’t believe they will all come back to me.”
Harrington successfully defended his title in the British Open last summer at Royal Birkdale, then raised the stakes a month later with a 66-66 weekend at Oakland Hills to win the PGA Championship and become the first European to win back-to-back majors in the same season.
Suddenly, there was talk of a “Paddy Slam,” especially when he opened with a 69.
But it became clear Friday that Harrington might not get the breaks so often required to win a major, with four putts that spun out of the cup and a one-shot penalty when a gust blew his ball a few feet away after he addressed it.
But the real calamity came on the second hole Saturday.
After pulling his tee shot well left of the fairway, Harrington tried to hit a hybrid in front of the green. He hit a tree, and the ball caromed into the hazard. After taking a penalty drop, he hit the same tree again, the ball ricocheting into a ditch this time.
