Notebook: Padraig Harrington takes account of accomplishments in golf

 

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Padraig Harrington flew halfway around the world after the Valspar Championship to New Delhi, where he will play the Hero Indian Open. He said it would be his first time playing in India since 1994, a week that marks one of his career highlights.

 

It wasn't a major. It wasn't a Ryder Cup.

 

It was his accountant's exam.

 

"My mother informed me that I got my exam results at home, and they told they weren't going to open them," said Harrington, who studied accounting at Dublin Business College. "They steamed them open. They told me if I failed, they weren't going to tell me. But because I passed, they told me.

 

"That was the week I became a qualified accountant."

 

He never finished what he referred to as "my articles" for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and thus never officially was an accountant. Harrington will have to settle for a pair of British Open titles, a PGA Championship, six appearances in the Ryder Cup and 11 times representing Ireland in the World Cup.

 

He said he has three honorary doctorate degrees.

 

"I can put all those letters after my name, but I can't put 'ACCA' because I didn't do my articles," he said. "Life is funny. I don't see it as a disappointment. One thing I learned is you have to have an expert look after those things."

 

LPGA TO NETWORK TV: Five years after the LPGA Tour had only two tournaments on network television, it picked up its seventh of the season when CBS said it would broadcast the final round of the Marathon Classic on July 17.

 

That means the LPGA Tour will be shown on network TV for four straight weekends in July – the U.S. Women's Open (Fox Sports), Marathon Classic (CBS), International Crown (NBC) and Ricoh Women's British Open (NBC).

 

The other network events are the KPMG Women's PGA Championship (NBC), the Evian Masters (NBC) and the CME Group Tour Championship (ABC).

 

"Our team has been focused on expanding our network TV coverage, which gives us a chance to showcase the LPGA to a much broader audience to attract more casual fans," LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said.

 

DIVOTS: The final spot in the 120-man field came down to the 85th position in the FedExCup standings. Blayne Barber and Sung Kang were tied at 236.340 points. The tiebreaker was last year, and Barber got the nod because he finished No. 121 in the FedExCup, and Kang was on the Web.com Tour. The good news for Kang? He got in, anyway, when Kevin Na withdrew. ... Harrington went from Florida to India and then will return to Texas for the Shell Houston Open, where he would have to win to qualify for the Masters. "If I sat home and didn't give myself a chance, I would feel I was letting myself down if I didn't try," Harrington said. ... Saunders is moving his wife and two young sons from Fort Collins, Colorado, to St. Augustine. Saunders said he loves Fort Collins: "If I did not play golf for a living, I'd live there for the rest of my life."

 

STAT OF THE WEEK: The Valspar Championship at Innisbrook was the first time since the Valero Texas Open that no one shot lower than 66 all week.

 

FINAL WORD: "Arnold Palmer made golf sexy." – Jason Day.

 

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