Padraig Harrington wins British Open
Padraig Harrington won the British open of Golf and will take home a nice paycheck. The British Open Purse has grown over the years and Padriag Harrington will take home about 1.5 million dollars after the exchange rate is taken into account. Not a bad payday for a few days work. I sure wish I could play golf with these guys. Since the overall British Open Purse is over 8.3 million I could live with last place for a portion of the British Open Purse.
Padriag Harrington took the open and has an exceptional career as a professional golfer.
Pádraig Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer. He is best known for winning The Open Championship back to back in 2007 and 2008.
Career
Harrington was born in Ballyroan, Dublin, Ireland. The Ballyroan Parish is located in Rathfarnham, the birth place of two other touring professional golfers - Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie. Harrington attended local secondary school Coláiste Éanna at the same time, but not in the same year/class, as McGinley, giving it the unique distinction of having produced two Ryder Cup golfers. Rathfarnham is a great golfing locality with several golf clubs on its margins- The Grange, Stackstown, Rathfarnham, Slade Valley, The Castle, Newlands.His father was Paddy Harrington, a Garda (Irish police officer) who played Gaelic football for Cork. 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. Harrington came to professional golf at a relatively late age, having studied accounting and working in the business for a number of years.
His first victory came quickly, in the 1996 Peugeot 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 and eventually won the Order of Merit in 2006. In 2007, Harrington won the European Tour Golfer of the Year award.
Harrington’s 2006 European Order of Merit win came after a titanic battle with Paul Casey and David Howell which was won on the last hole of the last event. Sergio García bogeyed the 72nd hole in the season ending Volvo Masters to give Harrington a share of second place which earned him enough money to leapfrog Paul Casey to 1st place on the Order of Merit.
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 snatched 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 has spent a considerable amount of time both in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 200 weeks between 2001 and 2008) and as the highest ranked European golfer, his best ranking being sixth. He has also played for Europe in four Ryder Cups; losing in 1999 but winning in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Harrington has also won the par-3 contest at the Augusta National Golf Club.
When he defeated Sergio García in a four hole playoff at Carnoustie in the 2007 Open, Harrington became the first Irishman to win The Open Championship in 60 years, and the first ever from the Republic of Ireland. Both players went into the play off having shot a 7 under 277 for the championship, Harrington subsequently winning by one shot. Upon seeing the Claret Jug, Harrington’s son Patrick was captured on camera saying "Can we put ladybirds in it?". In 2008, 52 weeks later, Harrington successfully defended his title overcoming a 2-shot deficit to Australian Greg Norman with a final day 69 on July 20, 2008. His back nine of 32 was particularly impressive and his eagle on the 17th resulting from a 270 yard iron near the flag was regarded by Peter Alliss and his fellow commentators as shot of the championship. He is the first European golfer since James Braid in 1906 to have retained the Claret Jug.
Personal life
Harrington has been married to his wife Caroline since 1997 and has two sons, Patrick, born in 2003 and Ciarán, born in November 2007.
He is a distant cousin of 1995 World Series of Poker champion and author Dan Harrington and NFL Quarterback Joey Harrington.
His name Pádraig is an Irish language version of the name Patrick, which is in common usage in Ireland.
Equipment
Driver: Wilson Staff Dd6+
Woods: Wilson Staff Fw6 Fairway #5-wood
Hybrids: Wilson Staff Fh6 Hybrid (19°)
Irons: Wilson Staff Pi5 Irons #3-PW
Wedges: Titleist vokey wedges (52° and 60°)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Blade
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Glove: Titleist
Shoes: Hi-Tec CDT Super Power Tour
Bag: Wilson Staff Tour Bag
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Ian Poulter almost upsets Padraig Harrington
Ian Poulter made a valiant effort at the British Open but just could not close the round on top as Padraig Harrington wins his second British Open. This was a well fought out round and many people where counting on Greg Norman to win the British Open. Norman was a favorite after his stellar performance on Friday and with the news of the controversy surrounding his new wife Chris Everett and how their relationship started out as an affair with both Norman and Everett admitting to cheating on their previous spouses while both were married.
Ian Poulter was definitely becoming the crowd favorite as many English Flags showing the pride of England where flown every where. Of course the English flags where flown after all this is the British Open. Ian Poulter has a distinguished biography as a golfer and we will include it for reference.
Ian James Poulter (born 10 January 1976) is an English golfer who is a member of the world’s top two professional golf tours, the U.S. based PGA Tour and the European Tour.
Career
Born in Hitchin, Poulter’s first professional win was the Open de Côte d’Ivoire on the European Tour’s second tier Challenge Tour in 1999, and he won promotion to the European Tour itself via the Qualifying School later that year. In his first season he claimed the Italian Open title and was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 2000. Further wins followed in each of the next four seasons, most prestigiously the season ending "tour championship" the Volvo Masters in 2004. He was in the top ten on the Order of Merit in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
After narrowly missing a place in the 2001 European Ryder Cup team, Poulter was a member of the victorious squad in 2004, where he officially scored the winning points for his team. This entitled him to take up membership of the PGA Tour in 2005, and he divided his time between the two tours in since then. He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He is well known for his often radical dress sense, including trousers featuring the famous Claret Jug, worn at both the 2005 and 2006 Open Championships. Commentating for the BBC, Seve Ballesteros cruelly jibed that this was "the closest [Poulter] would ever get to it".
Poulter is well known for being an avid fan of the London-based football club Arsenal FC. He has on several occasions appeared with the team’s crest on his shoes, and he even controversially wore the team’s hat during an event (immediately after the event the rule was changed to stop future players wearing football jerseys). He is an avid car collector and along with his new purchase of the Ford GT40, he has owned a Ferrari and a Nissan skyline along with an Aston Martin DB9.
At the Mercedes-Benz Championship in September of 2007, Poulter smashed a tee marker in a show of frustration and was fined. Also, in 2006 Poulter paid a £5,000 fine after verbally abusing a marshal at the Irish Open.
At the 2008 Masters Tournament, Poulter made a hole-in-one at the 16th hole at Augusta National in the first round.
At The 2008 Open Championship, Poulter had the clubhouse lead on the last round before being beaten by defending champion Pádraig Harrington.
Media controversy
In the March issue of Golf World (UK) Poulter was quoted saying "Don’t get me wrong, I really respect every professional golfer, but I know I haven’t played to my full potential and when that happens, it will be just me and Tiger." At the 2008 Dubai golf tournament, Poulter said that he was misquoted, and that he aspired to be ranked #2.
Professional wins (9)
European Tour wins (7)
2000 Italian Open
2001 Moroccan Open
2002 Italian Open
2003 Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open, Nordic Open
2004 Volvo Masters Andalucia
2006 Madrid OpenChallenge Tour wins (1)
1999 Open de Côte d’Ivoire
Japan Golf Tour wins (1)
2007 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament