Padraig's 5-wood eagle brilliant -- just not that smart

The headline writer employed by perhaps the most respected periodical in Britain captured the hyperventilation best of all.

Padraig Harrington finishes off the eagle that finishes off the British Open. (Getty Images)

The vaunted and venerable Times of London described Padraig Harrington's consecutive 5-wood shots on the penultimate hole of the British Open last weekend with a sense of awe that left little to the imagination and nothing open to question.

"Two Strokes of Genius," it read in part.

At minimum, that's at least partly debatable. In fact, it remains at issue whether he should have even attempted the second key blow.

As the golfing globe knows by now, Harrington knocked a pair of massive and memorable shots with his favorite club onto the green on the par-5 17th and tapped in a four-foot putt for a decisive eagle to cement his second consecutive Open title, this time at wind-battered Royal Birkdale.

Afterward, as Harrington deservedly hoisted the claret jug overhead, others raised the rhetoric well beyond arm's reach. Said his sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, moments after witnessing the round: "I think that shot on 17 might go down as the greatest shot in championship history."

Given that the tournament is 137 years young, that's quite an assertion, Doc. If you weren't a psychologist, I'd suggest that you have your head examined. Truthfully, it wasn't even the Irishman's most important shot over the last four holes.

But Rotella, a likeable guy, was hardly flying solo in hyperbole. The story in the Times characterized the Harrington shots thusly:

"In fact, two strokes by Harrington, which were brilliant in conception and faultless in their execution, skewered the challenge not only of (Greg) Norman but also of (Ian) Poulter.

"They are arguably among the most courageous and skillful strokes to have secured a major championship in living memory. Taking into account the degree of difficulty, the distance the ball traveled and the state of the tournament at the time, they carried a higher tariff than Tiger Woods' chip-in on the 70th hole of the 2005 Masters and the 7-iron to within a handspan of the flagstick that won Shaun Micheel the 2003 PGA Championship."

It's a Ryder Cup year and all, when provincial attitudes run deep, but this is balderdash. The state of the tournament at the time?

Here's a non-parochial history lesson for those whose glasses might be tinted by nationality. Micheel's shot from the left rough to within two inches on the 72nd came while nursing a one-stroke lead and ranks as one of the biggest shots in Grand Slam history. It was a walk-off homer, effectively, the clutch shot of his life from a guy who had never before won a tour event. Game over.

Though their duel eventually resulted in a playoff, Woods' chip-in on the 16th at Augusta National gave him a two-shot lead over gritty Chris DiMarco with two holes to play. As it turned out, had Woods not holed the chip, which included 20 feet of break, he would have lost.