The Associated Press

The Associated Press

HARRISON, N.Y. – Padraig Harrington curled in a big-breaking 65-foot eagle putt on the final hole to beat ex-Arizona Wildcat Jim Furyk by a stroke in the Barclays Classic yesterday at Westchester Country Club.

Harrington took advantage of Furyk’s late meltdown in the 90-degree heat for the Irish star’s second PGA Tour victory of the season, overcoming a three-stroke deficit with five holes to play to beat Furyk.

Harrington closed with a 1-under-par 70 for a 10-under 274.

“To hole a putt like that on the final hole is very special, very special,” Harrington said. “I hit that putt pure. I was just trying to two-putt. Trying to get it down there close. If you’d offered me 3-to-4 feet, I probably would have taken it.”

Harrington walked off with the $1,035,000 first-place check after Furyk let it slip away with consecutive bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17. Furyk missed a long birdie try and then a 4-foot putt for par on the 372-yard 17th to drop into a tie with Harrington, setting up the dramatic finish on the par-5 closing hole.

“I opened the door a little bit with the bogey on 16 and then missing the short one on 17,” Furyk said. “I make that putt 99 percent of the time.”

After Harrington holed his second eagle putt of the day to clinch the victory, Furyk made a 10-foot birdie putt for a 71.

“He just hit a fabulous putt,” Furyk said. “It went right in the center.”

Harrington bogeyed Nos. 11 and 12 to fall three strokes back, but made a 5-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to keep the pressure on Furyk. Harrington got up and down for par from the left rough on the par-3 16th and two-putted for par on No. 17.”There’s no consolation,” Furyk said. “Finishing second really stinks!”

Champions Tour

CONCORD, Mass. – Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe beat Green Valley’s Tom Purtzer and Tucsonan Don Pooleyy in a playoff for the Bank of America Championship.

McNulty made a 14-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole after Purtzer missed from a little bit closer.

Pooley was eliminated when he bogeyed the first hole, No. 18, but the other two parred the 521-yard par 5 that they had birdied five of six times in regulation.

“It’s pretty sad not to make par on the par-5 in the playoff to keep playing,” said Pooley, who had two birdies and a par before the playoff on the easiest hole on the course. “That should not have happened.”

Futures Tour

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Former Arizona Wildcat and Canyon del Oro High School star Cristina Baena won the Futures Tour Bank Of Ann Arbor Classic title yesterday at 5-under 216, earning $9,100.

Baena birded the final hole to beat Julieta Granada, a former UA recruit, by one shot.

Baena is now ninth on the Futures Tour money list with $17,483, $7,111 out of the fifth place. The top five money winners at the end of the season earn LPGA cards.

PGA Europe

VERSAILLES, France – Jean-Fran Ecois Remesy won his second straight French Open title, beating Jean Van de Velde on the second hole of a playoff.

Playing No. 18, both pulled their second shots into the water. After a penalty drop, Remesy hit a shot to within 8 feet. Van de Velde, however, had a drop in the rough and chipped from there into a bunker. His next shot was short, and his sixth shot was a chip that went past the hole. Remesy two-putted for a double-bogey six to win.

PGA Club Professional

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – University of Illinois golf coach Mike Small shot a 69 yesterday to earn a three-shot victory at the PGA Club Professional Championship.

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