Pádraig Harrington

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Pádraig Harrington

Personal Information
Birth	August 31, 1971 (1971-08-31) (age 36) Dublin, Ireland
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Nationality	Ireland
Residence	Dublin, Ireland
Career
Turned Pro	1995
Tours	European Tour (joined 1996) PGA Tour (joined 2005)
Professional wins	21 (European Tour: 12, PGA Tour: 3 (including 1 co-sanctioned with the European Tour); Other: 7)
Best Results in Major Championships Wins: 1
Masters	T5: 2002, 2008
U.S. Open	5th/T5: 2000, 2006
The Open	Won 2007
PGA Championship	T17: 2002
Awards
European Tour Order of Merit	2006

Pádraig Harrington (born 31 August 1971) (pronounced /ˈpɑːdrɪg/ in English, not /ˈpædrɪg/) is an Irish professional golfer. He has won tournaments on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He won the 2007 Open Championship, in which he defeated Sergio García in a four-hole playoff by one stroke. In doing so, he became the first European to win a major since Paul Lawrie won the same tournament in 1999, at the same venue (Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland). He was crowned the European Tour Golfer of the Year for 2007. He was voted Irish Person of the Year at the People of the Year Awards in 2007.

[edit] Career

Harrington was born in Ballyroan, Dublin, Ireland. The Ballyroan Parish is located in Rathfarnham, the birth place of two other touring professional golfers-Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie. Harrington attended local secondary school Coláiste Éanna at the same time, but not in the same year/class, as McGinley, giving it the unique distinction of having produced two Ryder Cup golfers. Rathfarnham is a great golfing locality with several golf clubs on its margins- The Grange, Stackstown, Rathfarnham, Slade Valley, The Castle, Newlands.His father was Paddy Harrington, a Garda (Irish police officer) who played Gaelic football for Cork. After a successful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain & Ireland team in 1995, Harrington turned professional later that year, joining the European Tour in 1996.

His first victory came quickly, in the 1996 Peugeot Spanish Open, but for the next few years the most remarkable thing about his career was the number of times he finished second in European Tour events without ever bettering that position, including four second places in five events in late 1999. However in 2000 he discovered a winning touch, and he had at least one win on the European Tour each year from then up to 2004. He has finished in the top ten on the European Tour's Order of Merit seven times, including second places in 2001 and 2002 and third places in 2003 and 2004 and eventually won the Order of Merit in 2006. In 2007, Harrington won the European Tour Golfer of the Year award.

Harrington's 2006 European Order of Merit win came after a titanic battle with Paul Casey and David Howell which was won on the last hole of the last event. Sergio García bogeyed the 72nd hole in the season ending Volvo Masters to give Harrington a share of second place which earned him enough money to leapfrog Paul Casey to 1st place on the Order of Merit. (list).

From around 2000, Harrington appeared with increasing frequency in the U.S. at the majors and World Golf Championships events, and as a sponsor's invitee. He won his first professional event in the U.S. at the Target World Challenge, a non-PGA Tour event hosted by Tiger Woods in 2002. In both 2003 and 2004 he was the runner up in the prestigious Players Championship, and in the latter year he won enough money on the PGA Tour as a non-member to earn an invitation to the end of season Tour Championship. He took membership of the PGA Tour for 2005 and in March he won his first PGA Tour official money event at the Honda Classic, where he beat Vijay Singh and Joe Ogilvie in a sudden death playoff. Later that June, Harrington snatched the Barclays Classic from Jim Furyk with a spectacular 65-foot eagle putt on the final hole in the final round for his second PGA Tour win.

Harrington has spent a considerable amount of time both in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 200 weeks between 2001 and 2008^[1]) and as the highest ranked European golfer, his best ranking being sixth. He has also played for Europe in four Ryder Cups; losing in 1999 but winning in 2002, 2004 and 2006.Harrington has also won the par-3 contest at the Augusta National Golf Club.

On July 22nd 2007 Harrington became the first Irishman to win The Open Championship in 60 years, when he defeated Sergio García in a four hole playoff at Carnoustie. Both players went into the play off having shot a 7 under 277 for the championship, Harrington subsequently winning by one shot. Upon seeing the Claret Jug, Harrington's son Patrick was captured on camera saying "Can we put ladybirds in it?".

[edit] Personal life

Harrington has been married to his wife Caroline since 1997 and has a son, Patrick, born in 2003. Their second child, Ciarán, was born in November 2007. ^[2]

He is a distant cousin of 1995 World Series of Poker champion and author Dan Harrington and NFL Quarterback Joey Harrington.^[3]

Padraig Harrington is a tee-totaller.^[4]

[edit] Equipment

• Driver: Wilson Staff Dd6+
• Woods: Wilson Staff Fw6 Fairway #5-wood
• Hybrids: Wilson Staff Fh6 Hybrid (19°)
• Irons: Wilson Staff Pi5 Irons #3-PW
• Wedges: Titleist vokey wedges (52° and 60°)
• Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Blade
• Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
• Glove: Titleist
• Shoes: Hi-Tec CDT Super Power Tour
• Bag: Wilson Staff Tour Bag

[edit] Amateur wins

• 1991 Sherry Cup
• 1994 West of Ireland Amateur
• 1995 Irish Amateur Open Championship, Irish Amateur Closed Championship

[edit] Professional wins

[edit] European Tour wins

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners up
1.	May 12, 1996	Peugeot Spanish Open	-16 (70-64-67-71=272)	4 strokes	Gordon Brand Jnr.
2.	April 2, 2000	Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open	-14 (69-68-65-68=270)	2 strokes	Gerry Norquist
3.	October 22, 2000	BBVA Open Turespaña Masters Comunidad de Madrid	-21 (67-64-66-70=267)	2 strokes	Gary Orr
4.	November 11, 2001	Volvo Masters Andalucia	-12 (67-71-66=204)	1 stroke	Paul McGinley
5.	October 6, 2002	Dunhill Links Championship	-19 (66-66-68-69=269)	Playoff1	Eduardo Romero
6.	November 24, 2002	BMW Asian Open	-15 (66-70-68-69=273)	1 stroke	Jyoti Randhawa
7.	May 18, 2003	Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe	-19 (65-66-70-68=269)	Playoff2	Thomas Bjørn
8.	December 7, 2003	Omega Hong Kong Open	-13 (66-75-64-70=275)	1 stroke	Hennie Otto
9.	September 12, 2004	Linde German Masters	-11 (67-69-67-66=269)	3 strokes	Nick O'Hern
10.	October 8, 2006	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	-17 (66-69-68-68=271)	5 strokes	Bradley Dredge, Edward Loar, Anthony Wall
11.	May 20, 2007	Irish Open	-5 (73-68-71-71=283)	Playoff3	Bradley Dredge
12.	July 22, 2007	The Open Championship	-7 (69-73-68-67=277)	Playoff4	Sergio García

¹Beat Eduardo Romero with birdie on second extra hole
²Beat Thomas Bjorn with a par on first extra hole
³Beat Bradley Dredge with par on first extra hole
⁴Shot 15 (3-3-4-5) in a four hole playoff to defeat Sergio García (5-3-4-4=16)

[edit] PGA Tour wins

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners up
1.	March 13, 2005	Honda Classic	-14 (73-69-69-63=274)	Playoff1	Vijay Singh
2.	June 26, 2005	Barclays Classic	-10 (71-65-68-70=274)	1 stroke	Jim Furyk
3.	July 22, 2007	The Open Championship	-7 (69-73-68-67=277)	Playoff2	Sergio García

¹Beat Vijay Singh with Par on second extra hole (Joe Ogilvie was eliminated on 1st hole when he made bogey)
²Shot 15 (3-3-4-5) in a four hole playoff to defeat Sergio García (5-3-4-4=16) by one shot

[edit] Other wins

• 1998 Irish PGA Championship
• 2002 Target World Challenge presented by Williams (unofficial money PGA Tour-sanctioned event)
• 2004 Irish PGA Championship
• 2005 Irish PGA Championship
• 2006 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament (Japan Golf Tour)
• 2007 Irish PGA Championship, Hassan II Trophy (Morocco)

[edit] Major championships

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runners Up
2007	The Open Championship	6 shot deficit	-7 (69-73-68-67=277)	Playoff1	Sergio García

¹ Defeated Sergio García in four-hole playoff by 1 stroke: Harrington (3-3-4-5=15), García (5-3-4-4=16)

[edit] Results timeline

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

[edit] Team appearances

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners)

Professional

• Ryder Cup: 1999, 2002 (winners), 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners); (Ryder Cup record W-L-H: 7-8-2)
• Alfred Dunhill Cup: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
• World Cup: 1996, 1997 (winner with Paul McGinley), 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
• The Seve Trophy: 2000, 2002 (winners), 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners)

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Harrington is the only player in the world to have been partnered with Tiger Woods in a tournament five or more times and to outscore him. Harrington has a 68.83 average in six rounds, compared with Woods' average score of 69.50. The rest of the world's top players averaged over 70.
• Harrington had received permission from the European Tour to putt without his left shoe, on condition that he neither delays play when removing the shoe, nor stands on it when playing the ball.^[5]. The golfer was claimed to be using this technique to help him put more weight through his left leg while practising. This decision was then overturned, ruling that he was not allowed to do it during tournament play.
• First man from the Republic of Ireland to win a golf major.
• Harrington is coached by Bob Torrance, the father of former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance.
• Holds a degree in accounting.
• Pádraig is an Irish language version of the name Patrick. It is a common name in Ireland and is pronounced pronounced [ˈpˠaːd̪ˠɾʲəɟ] "Pawd-rig".

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland
• Golfers with most European Tour wins

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Profile on the European Tour's official site
• Profile on the PGA Tour's official site