Padraig Harrington, the winner of three major championships in the past 13 months, was talking Sunday night about the cranial scar tissue some golfers build up over the course of a career.

If Sergio Garcia truly wants to win one of these things someday, he should be listening.

Fresh off capturing his first PGA Championship, Harrington had everyone laughing while he talked about his past troubles in majors.

One in particular stands out to him: Winged Foot, 2006 U.S. Open.

"I was one of the losers at Winged Foot," Harrington said. "And in many ways, I dodged a bullet because there were some more high-profile losers that day."

Forgotten in the 72nd-hole collapse of leader Phil Mickelson, and even the badly hit approach to 18 by Colin Montgomerie, is that Harrington, in his own assessment, choked just as much down the stretch. He bogeyed the last three holes after playing brilliantly for the first 15, and lost to Geoff Ogilvy by two shots.

The public sorrow was Mickelson's, the private education was Harrington's.

"I walked off the 18th hole at Winged Foot and (golf psychologist) Bob Rotella was there," Harrington said. "I said, 'Now I know I'll win a major.'

"Sometimes, you've got to lose them to know you can win them. I've always been that guy to put myself in position and learn from it, and understand it before I can actually go do it. And that's what I did."

Harrington was 34 at Winged Foot. Garcia is still only 28, having lost another heartbreaker Sunday when he bogeyed two of the last three holes and missed a 4-foot birdie chance at 17.

The Spaniard now has achieved, very impressively, 14 top-10 finishes in majors, but is he learning from the close calls? His play for most of the final round would say yes. His demeanor in the aftermath remains a question mark.

Garcia continues to talk about the good breaks the winners get, while hinting that the golf gods still have it in for him. Key putts "just don't want to go in." Harrington, Garcia said, was "lucky" with his lie in the rough on the 18th hole Sunday, even if the Irishman was terribly unlucky to get a lie under the face of the bunker on his tee shot.

Garcia absolutely did get hosed on the 15th hole at Oakland Hills, when his wonderful approach hit either the cup or the flagstick (TV replays were inconclusive). This, after his shot last year hit a flagstick and went off the green in his British Open playoff loss to Harrington. But this time, he was left with a 10-foot putt and missed.

Weird stuff happens in golf. But Garcia also has to take responsibility for hitting his approach into the water at 16, missing his 4-foot birdie at 17 and hitting the rough with his drive at 18.

Despite innocuous questions, he was testy with the media Sunday.

"I felt good with my game. I felt really good with my putting," he said. "I'm sure you guys (reporters) will find a way to switch it around."

No, there's no switching of the facts. Garcia missed a short putt late to miss winning a major for the second time in 13 months. Harrington, meanwhile, shot 32 on the back nine at Birkdale last month, and 32 on the back in his last two rounds on The Monster.

That is clutching up.

At some point, that becomes a function of attitude and not just skill. Sergio's halfway there.

CHALLENGING TIGER?

Harrington seemed a little sheepish when asked if he was ready to challenge the currently idle Tiger Woods for the No. 1 world ranking.

"It's a good situation when you can ask that," Harrington said with a grin. "It's a big step now to move up and start competing on a different level. I've got Phil and Tiger ahead of me. I don't necessarily pay attention to what they're doing.

"Do I believe I can improve as a player? Yes. There's plenty of my game to improve. It's a long way to catch Tiger at the top, but I know that the only way of focusing on doing that is focusing on me."

The world ranking math is well beyond my comprehension, but Woods still has nearly double the points of No. 2 Mickelson. Harrington is No. 3, followed by Garcia at No. 4.

OLYMPIC GOLF?

With the Olympics in full swing in Beijing, there was much chatter at the PGA about golf eventually becoming a part of the Summer Games. The PGA Tour is lobbying hard for it, as is Augusta National Golf Club and its chairman, Billy Payne, who ran the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Personally, I'm vehemently against it if it involves professionals, because top-level golf is already oversaturated with big events. Masters champ Trevor Immelman, a South African, and American Jim Furyk beautifully stated the case I've been making to anyone who will listen.

"If I was running it, I would go back to the way it was: gymnastics, weightlifting, swimming, track and field, marathons ... " Immelman said. "To me, that's what the Olympics are. The Olympics are not about tennis or golf or anything like that."

Said Furyk: "I want to watch sports where that is the absolute pinnacle of their career, and they had to wait four years for this moment, and they go out and perform, break a world record, win a gold medal. I think that's a great athletic achievement. That's what I want to watch."

Of late, however, I have heard the compelling argument that in many countries, government funding of athletes is based solely on Olympic status. Therefore, the argument goes, to grow the game globally golf needs to be in the Olympics.

Understanding that, I'm slightly swayed, although does golf have a realistic opportunity to burgeon in places such as Africa? Doubt it. But if they're going to do it, I would beg them to not give us Phil and Tiger in the Olympics. Let the amateurs, not millionaires, have their day.

Tod Leonard covers golf for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Contact him by e-mail at tod.leonard@uniontrib.com.

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