Padraig Harrington joins the legends' league

1/3

In the media tent, the Claret Jug safe in his clutches for a second consecutive year, Padraig Harrington was greeted by a gatecrashing fan who had spent the weekend on the course here offering him pearls of Liverpudlian wisdom.

In his victory speech less than an hour earlier, the double Open champion had talked of the bloke who, after watching him record a potentially calamitous double bogey on the 12th on Saturday, had put things into perspective by tapping him on the shoulder en route to the 13th and saying, "Don't worry. Think of me; I've got to go back to plumbing on Monday". He'd followed this up with the ultimate compliment, "Come on, Paddy, you're a Scouser now ..."

"Oh, that was you, wasn't it?" laughed Harrington, offering the Jug to his new found supporter. "Here, do you want to hold it?" Cue laughter all round and the sight of one gobsmacked plumber with a hell of a story to tell his mates about today. All thanks to the uncommon champion with the common touch.

No wonder everyone loves Harrington. Watching him rolling up that 18th fairway like a jaunty farmer with a smile as wide as the Liffey; seeing his heartwarming celebrations with his wife and kids; and listening to him joking about how his little lad Paddy could now be shoving snails instead of ladybirds into the Jug. Yes, here he was again, coming over as a sort of golfing everyman, an ordinary bloke still unable to quite believe his Irish luck.

Except, of course, this image of accidental champion just wouldn't do any more. "Winning a major puts you in a special club but winning two of them puts you in a new club altogether," said Harrington. Quite. This is what Greg Norman's fatherly arm around his shoulders seemed to be telling him as they made their emotional walk to the final green; welcome to the legends' league, son.

Someone wondered if he might well now be, at 36, the greatest Irish sportsman in history. Another asked if he realised what company he was suddenly keeping. "I haven't but I will. I'm looking forward to seeing who's won back-to-back Opens," Harrington said. So we told him. In the last half-century, only greats; Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods. And no European since Scotsman James Braid more than a century ago.

So perhaps this was the week designed to make this people's champion understand how special he is. The Tiger, of course, was hors de combat but the finest tribute to the quality of Harrington's triumph was that even Woods would have been hard pressed to surpass his superlative inward nine - four-under par 32, played in formidably testing windy conditions - which saw him turn this most open Open into a four-shot rout.

If the US Open had been about the one-legged hero, then here was the one-armed bandit. The wrist injury which made it doubtful he'd compete at all ended up being his secret weapon, because the problem distracted him from the "stress" that goes with being defending champion.

Third-round leader Norman having one of his famed old erratic final rounds helped too, although it would be churlish to resurrect Jack Newton's description of him as the Great White Fish Finger after a 53-year-old part-timer gave us the most exhilarating of vintage rides. When Ian Poulter set the target at seven-over par 287 with the best golf of the day, it served only to make Harrington top it sublimely.

At the par-five 17th, the low, perfectly-arrowed five wood which sailed 249 yards between three hungry bunkers to nestle 3ft from the pin must already be enshrined as one of the Open's great championship-deciding shots. It gave Harrington the luxury to savour a triumphant pressure-free victory stroll up the 18th rather than the nerve-wracked visits to the Barry Burn he'd endured at Carnoustie 12 months earlier.

"This year is more satisfying. I feel more accomplished," he said. Victory last year elevated him into the world's top six but he reckoned he never felt comfortable there. Yet today, when he's announced as world No3, he says he won't feel out of place at all.

"My best trait has always been my ability to learn," he said. "I'm maturing as a player and a person. My game's improving all the time and I need it to be.

"If I was standing still I would lose the interest." Now that interest had been reignited by a second major coming along "so much quicker than I thought".

So he'll keep up the workaholic training regime and gym sessions. Mr Woods would be impressed; in his absence, he may see someone who's taken a leaf out of his disciplined book and could well be a much more dangerous opponent by the time the Tiger's back next season.

Harrington found it all a bit weird, although fun, to cope with his first year as Open champion. He even became preoccupied with daft questions like "Should I write my full name now or just 'Paddy'?" because the demands of autograph hunters were so draining. Yet he's sure he'll now be much better prepared for the responsibilities that go with the title champion golfer of the year.

"I don't think winning the second Open will allow me to sign autographs with just the one name quite yet, though," he said. "I'll have to win a few more!" The way Paddy, the honorary Scouser, made history here suggests we can take it as read.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in