Padraig Harrington is one of the world's top golfers. Following a very successful amateur career, the highlight of which was winning the Walker Cup in 1995 at Royal Porthcawl in one of his three Walker Cup appearances, Padraig turned professional in September 1995.
His amateur individual honours list is equally impressive with a host of Irish national titles, the most notable of which are his 1995 Irish Open win at Fota Island and the 1995 Irish Closed title at Lahinch. He was the top amateur in Ireland for two years running (as rewarded by the Willie Gill Trophy) and still holds a number of excellent course records throughout Ireland.
Padraig's professional career began with success at the European Tour School where he earned his full Tour card for 1996. He made the cut at each of his first nine European Tour events, including five top-10 finishes and a remarkable win at the Spanish Open. This was done in style against a strong field, leading from the front for most of the tournament. Other top ten finishes saw him finish 11th in the Order of Merit for the year and secured him places in the Irish Dunhill Cup and World Cup teams. Such achievements were incredible in his first year as a professional.
Padraig finished 5th in the 1997 British Open at Troon after shooting a final round of 67 - a superb result. This, along with his other 6 top ten finishes, including his second place at the Volvo Masters, saw Padraig climb to 8th position in the 1997 Order of Merit. He was once again selected for the Irish World Cup and Dunhill Cup teams and partnered Paul McGinley to victory in the World Cup, the nation's first for 39 years.
1999 saw Padraig fulfill one of his career ambitions - representing Europe in the Ryder Cup. He showed enormous resolve to finish in second position in each of the last two qualifying tournaments to secure a spot in the team. Padraig's impressive win in his singles match against Mark O'Meara was one of the most courageous performances of recent times, it came at a time when it looked as though his point would be the vital one that Europe needed to retain the cup. His tremendous form and numerous top 10 finishes saw him selected for the prestigious Cisco World Match Play.
Padraig began 2000 by ending his run of nine runner-up spots since his first European Tour win, to claim his second title at the Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open, having narrowly lost a play off for the Rio de Janeiro tournament the week before. Padraig finished the year by capturing the BBVA Turespana Masters de Madrid for his second victory of the year. Padraig's solid play throughout 2000 led to him being selected again for the Cisco World Match Play and to again represent Ireland at the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, and at the World Cup in Buenos Aires.
The 2001 season was definitely one of Padraigs best; he finished runner up on seven occasions and finally finished the season with a dramatic win at the Volvo Masters in Jerez, a win which was welcomed by all of his fellow professionals alike.
2002 saw Padraig establish himself as one of the worlds top players and his World Ranking continued to rise to a career high of 6th in the world. Padraig managed to achieve one of the goals he set himself for the year, which was to perform well at the Majors, finishing 5th at both the Masters and The Open and 8th at the US Open. Following on from a highly successful Ryder Cup where Padraig played an integral part in the victorious winning European Team, he proceeded to win the prestigious Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews and ultimately finish second on the European Volvo Order of Merit. Padraig topped off a superb year by beating Tiger Woods in the final round of his own event, the Target World Challenge, in the US.
Padraig has won three times on the 2003 European Tour at the BMW Asian Open, the prestigious Deutsche Bank - SAP Open as well as finishing runner up at the Benson & Hedges International Open and the Madrid Open.
Padraig had an impressive start to the 2004 European Tour season by winning the first event of the campaign in Hong Kong. He then finished tied 5th in the WGC Accenture Match Play, second in the Players Championship at Sawgrass and fourth the following week at the BellSouth Classic. After two further second place finishes he won the Linde German Masters prior to flying out to Detroit where Europe retained The Ryder Cup in impressive style.
2005 got off to the best of starts with Padraig winning his first official PGA Tour event at The Honda Classic in Florida. He shot a course record equalling score of 63 in the final round to earn a three way play off, where he then defeated Joe Ogilvie and Vijay Singh. He then followed it up 3 months later with a win at the Barclays Classic in New York coming from behind to beat Jim Furyk with the help of two eagles in the final round, including a fantastic 60 foot on the final green.
Padraig's 2006 season started in America where he finished in tied 5th position at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, strongly contended at the US Open, before also finishing 5th, quickly followed by a second place finish the following week at the Booz-Allen Classic. Further second place finishes at the French Open and BMW International events secured Padraig's fourth Ryder Cup appearance at The K Club. An impressive win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship set up the European Tour Order of Merit title, which was clinched in great style with a second place at the Volvo Masters, and he recently beat Tiger Woods in a play-off for the Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan.
Padraig won the 2007 British Open Championship, in which he defeated Sergio Garcia in a four-hole play-off 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 has since been crowned the European Tour Golfer of the Year for 2007 and is the author of Padraig Harrington's Journey to the Open, with all royalties going to the Padraig Harrington Charitable Foundation.
In 2008 Padraig defended his win at the 137th Open with a final round of one under par 69 to give him a four shot victory. Most recently, Harrington became the first European in 78 years to claim the PGA Championship and the first European player to win back-to-back majors with his second straight major victory. He joins Tiger Woods, Nick Price and Walter Hagen as the only players to win the British Open and PGA Championships in the same season.
