Padraig Harrington Wins Second Major Of Year
11/08/2008 06:59
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Padraig Harrington rallied from three shots behind Sunday to win the PGA Championship, closing with a 4-under 66 at Oakland Hills to become only the fourth player to win the British Open and PGA in the same year.
If the winner was familiar, so was the finish.
Harrington shot a 32 on the back nine, just as he did at Royal Birkdale last month, and he came up with three big putts down the stretch. He made a 12-foot par on the 16th to catch Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis, took the lead with a 10-foot birdie on the par-3 17th, then closed out the Spaniard with an 15-foot par for a two-shot victory.
"I think I was willing them into the hole at that stage," Harrington said. "You have to get focused and give it a go."
The Irishman ended Europe's 78-year drought in the PGA Championship, and he joined Tiger Woods, Nick Price and Walter Hagen as the only players to win the final two majors in the same year. Woods did it twice, in 2000 and 2006.
Harrington talked about going to another level after winning the British Open, and he wound up in a class to himself a month later. He is the first European to win consecutive majors, and now has won three of the last six.
"That's Tiger-like, right there," Curtis said.
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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
I didn’t think Padraig Harrington was that good a golfer, but any golfer who can win two majors in a year in this day and age has to be doing something right.