Padraig Harrington further cemented his place in golf history by winning the ISPS Handa Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale Golf Club in England. Not only is it his third senior major title, and second of the season, but he also became only the fifth player with both the Open and Senior Open titles under his belt.
Harrington joined an illustrious list that already included the legendary Bob Charles, Gary Player, Tom Watsoand his compatriot Darren Clarke.
“I’m thrilled to have won but very satisfied that I’ve won a Senior Open with my two Opens,” he said, according to the winner’s press conference transcripts. “The fact that only five people have ever done it is quite special. I’m quite proud that I’ve managed to survive this long in the game. Longevity, at this stage, I think we look for a lot of things about our legacy in the game. The fact that I’m only the fifth person to have done that double, that’s pretty special.”
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Harrington elaborated a little more on the value he places on leaving a legacy during his time in professional golf.
“As you get older, you realize a lot of things is legacy and what you’ve done and you want to win on a great golf course like Sunningdale,” he said, according to the transcripts. “You want to do things that stand out, and having won a real Open, coming out, winning the Senior Open, it does give some — it adds a validation. It’s certainly satisfying to do it, to extent your career that way.”
Harrington won at Sunningdale with a score of 16-under, thanks to rounds of 67, 65, 65, and 67. This gave him a three-stroke lead over Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard.
Just a few weeks earlier, Harrington won the US Senior Open at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado. He had claimed his first major title in the 2022 edition of the same tournament at the Old Course in Saucon Valley, Pennsylvania.
The Irishman was the 16th and so far last player to win the Open Championship in consecutive years, and one of only two to do so in the last 40 years. The other was Tiger Woods (2005, 2006).
Harrington won the Claret Jug in 2007 at Carnoustie, defeating Sergio Garcia in a playoff. A year later, he repeated his triumph at Royal Birkdale, four strokes ahead of Ian Poulter.
In 2008, he also won the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, his third and final major title in the open category.
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