Harrington struck on elbow by amateur’s swing, gets stitches

Two weeks after Padraig Harrington returned from neck surgery, he was struck in the left elbow by the club of an amateur he was teaching at a clinic.

Harrington required six deep stitches because he said the club hit him so flush that it cut into the bursa sac around the joint. He had to withdraw from the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee, and hopes out only two weeks.

“There’s no truth to the rumor it was the amateur’s best strike of the day,” Harrington said Tuesday.

It was no laughing matter Monday at a clinic outside Washington, D.C. Harrington’s first thought was that he had shattered his elbow. When he saw the blood, he rushed to press ice against it immediately.

“Barring me fainting from to be the shock of pain, once I numbed it up, I couldn’t feel anything,” Harrington said.

Harrington, who tied for 31st at the Memorial last week, said he was trying to teach the amateur how to fix his hook. He was standing to the side, shoulder to shoulder to show the amateur what the swing should look like. Harrington stepped away and the man kept swinging.

“Caught me on the left elbow — middle of the clubface, middle of the elbow,” Harrington said. “I was pretty sure it was broken.”

Harrington said he went to an emergency room, where the doctor treating him had been on call two weeks ago at the Senior PGA Championship at Trump National. He said the stitches were deep to help prevent the area from getting infected, which was his only concern.

The three-time major champion already had missed three months to have neck surgery, and he was happy that he had recovered in plenty of time to play the British Open and PGA Championship this summer. The Open is at Royal Birkdale, where the Irishman won in 2008.

And now this.

Uihlein leads U.S. Open qualifiers

COLUMBUS, OHIO Uihlein suddenly » Peter faces at least a three-week stretch in America, and it starts with the U.S. Open.

Uihlein, the former U.S. Amateur champion playing on the European Tour, birdied the first extra hole in a 4-for-3 playoff Tuesday morning that determined the last of 14 spots from the 36-hole qualifier in Columbus.

Talor Gooch and Scottie Scheffler made birdie on the fourth extra hole to get the other two spots.