Padraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington (born 31 August 1971 in Ballyroan, Dublin, Ireland) is a professional golfer and former #6 in the world who has won nine tournaments on the European Tour and two on the PGA Tour. Padraig is married to Caroline since 1997 and his son Patrick was born in 2003.
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 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 (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 stole 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 won the 2007 Open Championship in a playoff over Sergio Garcia.
Harrington has spent a considerable amount of time in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings, his best ranking to early June 2005 being sixth. He has also played for Europe in three Ryder Cups; losing in 1999 but winning in 2002 and 2004.
Contents |
[edit] European Tour wins
- 1996 Peugeot Spanish Open
- 2000 Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open, BBVA Open Turespaña Masters Comunidad de Madrid
- 2001 Volvo Masters Andalucia
- 2002 Dunhill Links Championship
- 2003 Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe, BMW Asian Open
- 2004 Linde German Masters, Omega Hong Kong Open
- 2007 The Open Championship
[edit] PGA Tour wins
- 2005 Honda Classic, Barclays Classic
- 2007 The Open Championship
[edit] Other wins
Professional
- 1998 Irish PGA Championship (not a European Tour event)
- 2002 Target World Challenge (Unofficial PGA Tour event)
- 2004 Irish PGA Championship (not a European Tour event)
- 2005 Irish PGA Championship (not a European Tour event)
Amateur
- 1991 Sherry Cup
- 1994 West of Ireland Amateur
- 1995 Irish Amateur Open Championship, Irish Amateur Closed Championship
[edit] Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T19 | T27 | T5 | CUT | T13 | CUT | T27 |
| U.S. Open | DNP | CUT | T32 | DNP | T5 | T30 | T8 | T10 | T31 | CUT | 5 |
| British Open | T18 | T5 | CUT | 29 | T20 | T37 | T5 | T22 | CUT | DNP | CUT |
| PGA Championship | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP | T58 | CUT | T17 | T29 | T45 | CUT | CUT |
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Yellow background for top-10.
[edit] Team appearances
Amateur
- Walker Cup: 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners)
Professional
- Ryder Cup: 1999, 2002 (winners), 2004 (winners)
- Alfred Dunhill Cup: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
- World Cup: 1996, 1997 (winners), 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
- The Seve Trophy: 2000, 2002 (winners), 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners)
[edit] See also
[edit] Trivia
Padraig is a cousin of poker champion Dan Harrington and Miami Dolphins quarterback Joey Harrington.
Harrington is coached by Bob Torrance, the father of former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Profile on the European Tour's official site
- Profile on the PGA Tour's official site
- Padraig Harrington at Golf Stars Online Directory of interviews, websites and feature articles with or about Padraig Harrington.
