Golf Special Report: Padraig Harrington- Career Highlights (Part II)
The following year, Harrington moved up four spots and was ranked 6th in the World. His performance in the Majors improved when he came in fifth position at The Open and at the Masters. At the US Open, Harrington finished in eight position. Being
selected for the Ryder Cup again, in 2002, Harrington played a crucial role for the winning European team. Going on the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he finished off an amazing year by defeating Tiger Woods in the final round at his own event, the Target
World Challenge in the US. In 2003, he attained three European Tour titles. He won the BMW Asian Open, the Deutsche Bank Open and the Omega Hong Kong Open. That year he also finished second at the Benson & Hedges International Open and the Madrid Open.
The next year, Harrington won two events on the European Tour. By winning the Omega Hong Kong Open and the Linde German Masters, Harrington kept the money coming in. His achievements led to him to finish third on the money list. That year, his Ryder Cup
performance was decent as well. He made four points including the singles win against Jay Haas.
2005 was an important year for Harrington as he became the first Irishman to win the USPGA. He won not only one but two important tournaments. The first win was at the Honda Classic where he defeated VJ Singh and then the Barclays Classic where he crushed
Jim Furyk by one shot. That year he took a total of $2.6 Million from the USPGA Tour and €670,000 from the European Tour. Out of the fifteen USPGA events he played, Harrington won two of them and four top then finishes. At the Dunlop Phoenix Open on the Japan
Golf Tour that November, Harrington also beat Tiger Woods in a playoff.
The achievements of the Irishman appeared infinite when in 2006 he won the Volvo Order of Merit. At Valderamma, Harrington chipped and putted the course to death and literally snatched the title that appeared to be Paul Casey’s till the last tee. As a side
note, it had taken Padraig eleven years to reach the top of European golf. In 2006, Harrington won the Dunhill links and was the runner up at the French Open, Volvo Masters and BMW International Open. That year, in the Ryder Cup, Harrington was again a relevant
part of the team. The Europeans won by a record of 18.5 to 9.5 at the K Club in Ireland. In the PGA Tour, he played in 15 events and had one 2nd place and three top tens.
Winning his first major in 2007, Padraig Harrington had finally become a champion. He won the Irish PGA Championship at the European Club and then really caught fire when took the Open Championship title. He was the first European to win a major since Paul
Lawrie in 1999 and the first Irishman to win since Fred Daly in 1947.
Having a great 2007, 2008 was yet another amazing year for Harrington. Harrington defended the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and managed to keep his calm in really nasty weather. After 78 years, Padraig won the USPGA Championship and swept the Americans
off their feet. Such an impression Harrington made that he was given PGA player of the year award that year. He was the second European to achieve such a prestigious award. In 2008, Harrington achieved a career high third in the world rankings.
In 2009, Harrington won the 2009 Irish PGA Championship. After that, for some reason, Paddy had a very winless season. Achieving so much in the year before, a lot was expected from him but things didn’t quite work out for him in 2009 and part of 2010.
For the 2010 Ryder Cup, a lot of controversies arose as Harrington was named one of Colin Montgomerie’s Wildcards. The general public thought this chance should have been given to either Justin Rose or Paul Casey. Facing a lot of criticism, Harrington kept
his calm. The two-year winless drought finally ended for Paddy when he won the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia. Even though it was an Asian Tour event, Harrington really needed this win.
Overall, looking at how much he has achieved, Harrington is definitely an amazing player and has the potential to achieve much more.
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