Padraig Harrington survived a see-saw round of golf and pipped Sergio Garcia in the playoff to win the British Open and end Europe’s eight-year drought in Majors.
With Harrington’s triumph, Ireland got its first British Open winner in 60 years and finally, a European managed to win a Major tournament after a painstaking gap of eight years.
In contrast, Garcia failed to shrug off the tag of being the best golfer not to have won a Major. It was a huge disappointment for Garcia who threw away a three-shot lead and paid the price. Garcia had the golden opportunity again when Harrington double bogeyed the final hole and Spaniard needed just a par to lift the claret jug. Garcia lost the plot there and missed a 10-foot putt that resulted in the playoff.
Harrington said the three-foot bogey put was perhaps the most difficult shot of his career.
He said
I know it was only a short putt, but the emotions of it. I couldn’t believe it as it was rolling in from right in the middle of the hole, and I’m thinking, ‘The Open champion.’ A huge amount of it was genuine shock.
Now, if Sergio parred the last and I did lose, I think I would have struggled to come back out and be a competitive golfer. It meant that much to me. But I never let it sink into me that I had just thrown away the Open championship.
He became the first Irishman in six decades with his name on the claret jug, and Harrington also ended Europe’s eight-year drought in the majors. The victory moved him up to No. 6 in the world, part of the elite.
