Padraig Harrington blog: BMW Championship review

Trouble off the tee in Chicago was helped by strong short game

The weekend was no different in terms of how I felt on the course; I struggled with my focus and routines which is a sign that I was tired.  Saturday started very well; I made three birdies in a row from the second to get me to nine under but then it went downhill.

From the fifth tee I began to struggle; it was like I was dehydrated but I knew that I wasn't.  I just wasn't able to settle myself no matter how much I tried.  I dropped shots at the sixth and seventh and then the tenth and twelfth, with a birdie on the eleventh.  After the twelfth I got myself back to normal and managed to make a couple of birdies coming in to end up shooting two under for the day.  I came off the course feeling good about myself for shooting two under as I knew that I could have shot anything.

I hit a few shots after the round to try and sort out what was wrong.  It felt better on the range once I thought about holding my finish.  I then spent Saturday evening in Solider Field, the home of the Chicago Bears, for the opening concert of U2's American tour.  I had seen them in Croke Park a few weeks ago but it was still fantastic to see them again.  It was dark when they started so the stage looked amazing and the whole concert was brilliant.  It is always great to get away to something like this at a tournament because as I am there as a fan I have nothing to do but enjoy myself.

Sunday was a funny day; it started oddly in that there was a fog delay for the morning starters so they had to rearrange the tee times and my tee time was brought forward an hour, which I had never seen done before.  I only found out when I met Phil Mickelson in the gym.

Luckily for me I get up three hours before my tee time so it meant that I had time but it wasn't ideal.  I got off to a good start again with a birdie on the first hole but that was where it ended.  I played very similar to the first three days but this time I wasn't able to chip and putt as well as I had done.  I ended up shooting two over par to finish on six under for the week and thirteen shots behind Tiger in a share of sixth spot.  It wasn't good enough for me to move into the top five as both Sean O'Hair and Jim Furyk had good days to pass me and leave me in sixth position overall.  I was very happy with my sixth place finish as I had played badly for the week and somehow managed to get the ball around in a decent number.

It has been a good three weeks for me - second at Barclays, fourth at Deutsche and sixth here at the BMW.  It would have been nice to get a win under my belt in one of them; I had my chances in the first two but not here as Tiger ran away with it.  I have a week off before the final playoff event; I can still win the Fed Ex Cup but now I need some results to go my way in Atlanta.  I am looking forward to a few days at home to relax and take it easy before I come back for the Tour Championship.

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