| Padraig Harrington | ||||
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Padraig Harrington Just the second European player ever to win the PGA Player of the Year award. The strapping Irishman crammed a golfing career into four star-spangled weeks. From mid-July to mid-August, Padraig Harrington did a remarkable impersonation of Tiger Woods, helping him to capture the 2008 PGA Player of the Year award. He won the British Open, and three weeks later the PGA. That’s two majors, back-to-back. Throw in the 2007 British Open, which he also won, and that’s three majors out of the past six. The Dubliner is rolling along like a 70-foot putt for eagle. He is something of a late arrival to this party, having acquired an accounting degree and working in the business world for a time, not entirely sure whether the golfer’s nomadic life was for him. He finally turned pro in 1995 at the age of 24. His presence was more ripple than splash. Harrington honed his game and refined his swing. But that was the physical part, and in golf it is the mental part that is the most elusive. In the process, Harrington became a master of the almost-not-quite finish. He had second-itis, finishing a frustrating runner-up again and again, four times in five tries in 1999 alone. “Couldn’t seem to get out of my own way,” he said at the time. But his talent was undeniable, and it was only a matter of time. And once he broke through, he quickly became one of Europe’s elite players, a globe-trotter who has won all over the world. He has five PGA Tour wins and 16 international victories, including such diverse geographical wins as the Spanish Open, the Irish Open and PGA, the Brazil Open, the Asian Open, the Hong Kong Open, and the German Masters. All that was missing from that resume was a major. And that was remedied in 2007 at the British Open at Carnoustie, though it was not without high drama. He took a runaway lead into the last hole, but put two shots in the water and was fortunate to get into a four-hole playoff with Sergio Garcia. Harrington’s victory there was the first by an Irish golfer in 60 years. In the days leading to the 2008 British Open, there was considerable doubt whether a sore wrist would allow him to defend his title. But he gritted it out, won, and then at the PGA, he fired a pair of blazing 66’s on Saturday and Sunday, and became the first European player to win the PGA in 78 years. His bank account for this year to remember has swelled to $4.5 million, his career earnings are past $15 million, and he is halfway to a career Grand Slam, a distinction achieved by only five players, the most recent one being Tiger Woods. Which brings us, conveniently, to this face-to-face fact: Those who are paired with Woods tend to unravel quickly, awed and cowed. But Padraig Harrington, in the six rounds they have played together, has never lost to Woods and has a scoring average of 68.63 to Woods’ 69.50. — Bill Lyon
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