Harrington admits: "I got away with murder"

Padraig Harrington confessed that he "got away with murder" in the BMW Championship at Cog Hill last week.

The Dubliner hit more than his share of wayward drives - he was 65th out of 68 for driving accuracy for the week - but still managed to go into the final round with an excellent chance of a clinching the top-four finish that would have left his FedExCup destiny in his own hands heading into next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Writing on his blog, he said: "My scores for the week definitely flattered me. From the first day I found it a struggle but I managed to keep myself in the tournament by chipping and putting well. I opened up with a three under par 68, which was a great achievement considering some of the shots that I hit. The most impressive thing about it though was the fact that I managed to keep a bogey off my card. I holed some good putts for par and hit some very good chip shots which were really enjoyable. I had hoped that I would do better on Friday but unfortunately not; I was probably a little worse. I hit some terrible drives and should have been out of bounds on the eleventh, but was out of bounds on the eighteenth. However, like the first round I kept myself in the mix with my short game. I managed to make four birdies and no bogeys in the first 17 holes to get me to seven under par for the tournament. But then another bad drive finally caught up with me on the last; I blocked it out of bounds right but I managed to make a birdie with my second ball to save a bogey. It is rare that you walk off a hole thinking how good a bogey that was but this was the case. I actually walked off the course thinking to myself that I had actually got away with murder as I felt terrible on the course and hit some awful shots but yet I shot another three under par, to be on six under for the tournament and in the second last group on Saturday." 

Harrington will go to East Lake ranked sixth in the FedExCup standings. A victory by anyone in the top five will guarantee them the $10m bonus but Harrington must win the title and hope that pacesetter Tiger Woods finishes worse than solo second.

He'll certainly need to drive the ball better. A strike rate of 50 percent left him 65th out of 68 for driving accuracy in Chicago.