Padraig Harrington

At 52 years old, Padraig Harrington has this physical status:

Pádraig Peter Harrington, born 31 August 1971, is an Irish professional golfer who competes on the European Tour and the PGA Tour.

He has won three major championships, including the PGA Championship in 2007 and 2008, as well as the PGA Championship in 2008.

He spent more than 300 weeks in the top ten of the world rankings, his highest ranking in July 2008 was third. He is the captain of the European team for the 2020 Ryder Cup.

Personal life

Caroline Harrington has known him since childhood. They married in 1997 and have two sons: Patrick, who was born in 2003, and Ciarán, who were born in November 2007.

Tadhg, Harrington's oldest brother, is a golf coach who practices and instructs at the Harrington Golf Academy in Dublin, Ireland.

Harrington is a distant cousin of former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington and 1995 World Series of Poker champion and author Dan Harrington.

The Irish Language version of Patrick's name "Pádraig" in Harrington is the Irish Language version of the word Patrick, which is in common usage in Ireland. (Tadhg, Columb, Fintan, and Fergal) are all Irish names for his four older brothers (Tadhg, Columb, Fintan, and Fergal).

Ronan Flooding, Harrington's caddy since 2004, is the cause. Susie Gregan, the niece of Harrington's wife, was married in 2007.

Harrington mixed amateur golf with Accounting after graduating from high school. He passed his final exams in 1994 to be admitted to ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

In an attempt to improve his game, Harrington underwent laser eye surgery.

Harrington was diagnosed with Covid-19 in February 2021.

In May 2010, Harrington became a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics, the world's biggest sports body for people with intellectual disabilities. He has worked with Special Olympics athletes and coaches to provide several golf clinics.

Harrington has been a supporter of the Oesophageal Cancer Fund (OCF) in Ireland since 2006 after losing his father to oesophageal cancer in 2005. He actively promotes Lollipop Day, Ireland's national day for oesophageal cancer research, which raises funds through a variety of events and causes through The Pádraig Harrington Charitable Foundation, which are distributed to deserving beneficiaries throughout Ireland and the rest of the world.

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Professional career

Harrington turned professional later this year, after a fruitful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain & Ireland team in his third appearance in 1995, before returning to the European Tour in 1996. Harrington began playing high-standard amateur golf at a young age, having studied accountancy at university for many years. He was uncertain whether to become a professional, and he was worried about his potential.

In the 1996 Peugeot Spanish Open, his first victory was quick, his 10th appearance on the European Tour. But it was the number of times he placed second in European Tour events without ever winning the title, including four second places in five events in late 1999. Harrington qualified to make his Ryder Cup debut in 1999 with these runners up finishes. Harrington defeated the 1998 Irish PGA Championship outside of the European Tour circuit.

In 2000, however, Harrington won two European Tour titles at the Brazil So Paulo Open in April and the BBVA Open Turespaa de Madrid in October. Harrington finished seventh on the European Tour Order of Merit for the second time since 1999, equaling his 1999 finish.

Harrington won his fourth tournament on the European Tour in Andalucia in 2001, bringing Harrington to a second place finish on the European Tour's Order of Merit for the fourth year.

2002 was another good year on the European Tour, with particular success towards the end of the season, including winning at the Dunhill Links Championship in October and advancing to a playoff with Eduardo Romero. Harrington's second-place finish on the European Tour's Order of Merit after this victory and a further nine top-ten finishes. This form earned Harrington's second Ryder Cup appearance at The Belfry in the final day singles. Harrington, who was playing in match 5 and helping Europe win and regain the trophy by a score of 15.5 to 12.5.

Harrington maintained their winning form into 2003, winning the first event of the 2003 season at the BMW Asian Open in November 2002. Harrington won the 2002 Target World Challenge, a non-official event in the United States hosted by Tiger Woods, following Harrington's success in 2001 and 2002, although this is not a PGA Tour event. His winning form continued into the new year after winning the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe in May 2003. Harrington finished third on the 2003 European Tour Order of Merit, thanks to these two victories.

In 2004, Harrington defeated the Omega Hong Kong Open in December 2003 and the Linde German Masters in September 2004. Harrington finished third on the European Tour's Order of Merit for the fourth year in a row, with his fourth year in a row as a top-five finisher and his sixth in a row. Harrington qualified for the 2004 Ryder Cup, hosted at Oakland Hills Country Club, where he was part of a European team that defeated the United States by the largest winning margin ever hosted by a European team in the event's history.

Harrington played fewer events on the European Tour in 2005 than on the tour in 1999, with his first winless year on the tour since 1999. This was his second matches golf victory on the European Tour in 2006, while also winning the tournament in 2002 and a precursor to his future Open Championship triumph. Following this, Harrington received the 2006 European Tour Order of Merit, following a thrilling match with Paul Casey and David Howell that was crowned on the 18th hole of the last round. Sergio Garca shot a bogey on the 72nd hole of the season's end to the Volvo Masters to give Harrington a piece of second place, earning him enough money to leapfrog Paul Casey to 1st place on the Order of Merit.

For the first time in 2007, Harrington won the Irish Open for the first time, and Harrington became the first home winner of the Irish Open for 25 years.

In 2007 and 2008, Harrington was named European Tour Golfer of the Year.

In both 2003 and 2004, he was the runners up in The Players Championship, and in the latter year he earned enough funds on the PGA Tour as a non-member to gain an invitation to the end of season Tour Championship.

He joined the PGA Tour in 2005 and claimed his first PGA Tour official money event at the Honda Classic in March, where he defeated Vijay Singh and Joe Ogilvie in a sudden-death playoff. Harrington snatched the Barclays Classic from Jim Furyk in late June with a stunning 65-foot (20 m) putt on the 18th hole for his second PGA Tour victory. Harrington's father died of oesophageal cancer on July 11th, the day night preceding the 2005 Open Championship, two weeks later.

Following his second Open Championship triumph, Harrington spent more than 300 weeks in the world's top ten from 2001 to 2010. He has competed in six Ryder Cups, losing in 1999 and 2008, but winning in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2010. In 2003 (tie), 2004 and 2012 (tie), he has also won the par-3 tournament at Augusta National, which occurred the day before The Masters).

Harrington defeated Sergio Garca in a four-hole playoff at Carnoustie Golf Links, becoming the first Irishman to win The Open Championship in 60 years and the first from the Republic of Ireland. Both players went into the playoffs having shot a 7-under-277 for the championship. Harrington then took the title by a single stroke in the playoffs.

It was unclear if he'd have a chance to defend his Open Championship at Royal Birkdale a year later, as eight days before the event, he broke his wrist. But Harrington won by a 69 point, beating Greg Norman by two shots in the final round. On the back nine, he shot a four-under-par 32, allowing him to pull away from Norman and Ian Poulter. The tournament was almost sealed by his eagle on the par-5 17th. He was the first European golfer since James Braid in 1906 to keep the Claret Jug. With his win, he went from fourteenth to third in the world rankings, behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Harrington captured the PGA Championship on the South Course of the Oakland Hills Country Club in just three weeks after winning the Open Championship. Despite being at five over par in the second and fourth rounds, he shot eight under par for the weekend, posting consecutive scores of 66. His three children under the age of 277 were two shots behind Sergio Garca and Ben Curtis. Harrington was the first European to win the PGA Championship in 78 years (Tommy Armour in 1930) and Ireland's first champion.

Aside from Tiger Woods, who has won three major championships in a row since Mark O'Meara in 1998 and the first golfer to win two majors in the same year since Nick Price in 1994. Rory McIlroy, 2014, won the Open Championship and PGA Championship, as well as Jordan Spieth who won the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2015.

Harrington's win in the PGA Championship earned him his spot as Europe's top player, earning him a spot in the 2008 European Ryder Cup team under captain Nick Faldo.

Harrington's 2009 season began with a tied-fifth finish in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on the European Tour. He then went through a challenging period in his career, missing out on the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Northern Trust Open on the PGA Tour as a result. In what would be one of his best performances in the early part of 2009, he finished tied-11th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which would be one of his finest performances in the early part of the year. He arrived at the 2009 Masters Tournament in the hopes of joining Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three consecutive major tournaments. Harrington started with a 3-under-par first round, but then faded over the weekend, finishing tied for 35th place. In the coming months, his challenges continued as he missed the cut at five of his next six events, including The 3 Irish Open and the U.S. Open. It was during this period that he revealed that he was working on swing shifts with coach Bob Torrance that he had been negotiating.

Harrington arrived at The Open Championship in Turnberry, hoping to win by a hat-trick of Open victories, a feat that has only been achieved since Peter Thomson's 1880s. He ended up finishing tied for fifth place. He was involved in a final day clashe between himself and World number one Tiger Woods at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Harrington was led by one shot on the 16th hole by a single shot, but Woods' birdie won the tournament by a triple-bogey, and he finished in second place. Harrington, the defending champion, was in the first two rounds of the PGA Championship with Woods the following week. He fired a 68 in the first round, falling just one shot behind leader Woods. Woods was a shot behind Woods in rounds 73 and 69. He was in contention in the final round until he shot an 8 at the par-3 8th hole. He was in a tie for tenth place. In all four FedEx Cup playoff tournaments, he was ranked in the top ten, followed by more top-10s in Europe and the United States before the season's end. For the first time since 1999, he ended the year winless on the European and PGA Tours.

In 2010, Harrington failed to make the cut in three out of four majors. In an uneven season, he had five top-10s on the PGA Tour, but he had missed six cuts. He was a controversial wild-card pick by European captain Colin Montgomerie for the 2010 Ryder Cup. Europe regained the Ryder Cup after he won two games and lost two matches. It was his sixth Ryder Cup appearance and fourth time on the winning team. On the Asian Tour, he won his first tournament in two years at the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia. He finished the year ranked 25th in the world.

Harrington started his 2011 season with a 65-72 start in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, a first-round victory. He was later disqualified before his second round began after a spectator called in and pointed out an incident of his ball moving an extremely short distance closer to the green during the first round, although he was still missing his ball marker. (The occurrence led to a rules review, and if it were to happen again, it would not be a penalty.) At the U.S. Open, he missed out on the cut at the Masters Tournament and ended tied for 45th. For the first time since 1999, he fell outside the top 50 in the World Rankings in June 2011.

Harrington made his debut on the 2012 PGA Tour at Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he and partner J.P. McManus, as well as Brian Harman and Greg Ontiveros, placed joint top of the Pro-Am leaderboard. With a tie for seventh place, Harrington also had a good finish in the overall tournament. In March 2012, Harrington shot a 61 in the first round of the Transitions Championship, a new course record at the Copperhead Course. This was also Harrington's lowest round on the PGA Tour ever. Despite his stellar start to the remaining three rounds, he did not manage to keep his excellent start to the second round a tie for 20th place.

The Masters, Harrington shot five under for the first major of the year in April 2012, taking the lead by three shots. He shot a level par round of 72 to finish tied for eighth in the final round. It was Harrington's first top-ten finish in a major since the 2009 PGA Championship.

Harrington was in contention to win his fourth major championship at the 2012 U.S. Open when the first three days put him in contention. Harrington had two holes down in two holes when bogeying two of the first six holes, and he was two behind the leader on the stretch from hole 7-17 in 5-under-par to find himself two behind him. Harrington, who wanted to finish at the 18th, discovered a wired hole in the greenside bunker, resulting in a bogey finish at 3-over-par. Ultimately, this did not cost him the championship because he came second behind Webb Simpson on 1-over-par. Harrington later said he felt he had to birdie the last to get to 1-over-par as the reason for taking such a tense position on the 18th. He eventually placed third in a tie for fourth place, his highest appearance at a U.S. Open.

Despite having not won a major championship this year, Harrington defeated the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October 2012, despite being late replacement for Open champion Ernie Els.

In both years and outside the top 50 on the PGA Tour FedEx Cup in both years, Harrington endured a challenging 2013 and 2014 season, finishing outside the top 60 on the European Tour Race to Dubai in both years and outside the top 60. During this time, his Official World Golf Ranking dropped to an 18-year low of 385 as of December 1, 2014. He took the Bank BRI Indonesia Open on the Asian Tour in December 2014 for his first official victory in four years.

In March 2015, Harrington captured his first title on the European or PGA Tours in seven years at the Honda Classic. On the second extra hole of a sudden-death playoff, he defeated rookie Daniel Berger on a second extra hole. After finishing 188th in the FedEx Cup, Harrington began the 2014–15 season without full playing rights. Since James Hahn won the Northern Trust Open the week before, Harrington became the second consecutive winner on the PGA Tour in a row. The win qualified Harrington for the Masters for the first time since he made his debut in 2000 at the event. This has also put him in the top 100 in the world.

Harrington represented Ireland at the 2016 Summer Olympics in August 2016, placing in a tie for the 21st position. Harrington defeated the Portugal Masters by a single stroke on October 23, 2016. It was his first victory on the European Tour since 2008.

Harrington was appointed captain of the 2020 Ryder Cup on January 8, 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ryder Cup was postponed a year. The European team lost 19–9.

In 2022, Harrington began playing on the PGA Tour Champions. In his first senior major, The Tradition, he came in second second, second to Steve Stricker. He won his first senior major, the U.S. Senior Open, on June 26, 2022, defeating Stricker by a single stroke.

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Awards and honours

• International:
  • 2006:
    • European Tour Order of Merit
  • 2007:
    • European Tour Golfer of the Year
    • Association of Golf Writers Player of the Year
  • 2008:
    • PGA Player of the Year
    • PGA Tour Player of the Year
    • European Tour Golfer of the Year
    • Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA) Player of the Year
    • Association of Golf Writers Player of the Year
    • European Tour Shot of the Year – 5w on 71st Hole in Open Championship
• National:
  • 1996 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award
  • 1999 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award
  • 2001 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award
  • 2002 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award, RTÉ Sports Person of the Year
  • 2004 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award (shared with Darren Clarke & Paul McGinley)
  • 2005 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award
  • 2006 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award
  • 2007 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award, RTÉ Sports Person of the Year
  • 2008 Texaco Ireland Sportstar Golf Award, Irish Golf Writers Professional of the Year Award, RTÉ Sports Person of the Year