Biography
Padraig Harrington
Padraig is married to Caroline since 1997 and his son Patrick was born in 2003. Padraig's father died in 2005.
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.
His first victory came quickly, in the 1996 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 third places in 2001 and 2002 and second places in 2003 and 2004 (list).
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 stole 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 in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings, his best ranking to early June 2005 being sixth. He has also played for Europe in three Ryder Cups; losing in 1999 but winning in 2002 and 2004.
Career Highlights
Amateur Career
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.
Professional career
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's impressive form continued. He 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 Alfred Dunhill Cup teams and partnered Paul McGinley to victory in the World Cup, the nation's first for 39 years. With his four top ten finishes, and a win in the 1998 Irish PGA Championship, he continued to prove himself as one of the best players in Europe.
1999 saw Padraig fulfill one of his career ambitions - representing Europe in the Ryder Cup. Padraig 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. Padraig followed his Ryder Cup debut with a second place in the Linde German Masters, losing in a play off to Sergio Garcia. His tremendous form and numerous top 10 finishes saw him selected for the prestigious Cisco World Match Play where he was victorious over Carlos Franco and Ernie Els, only to lose in the semi final to the eventual winner, Colin Montgomerie.
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's playing schedule took him around the world and in the first two US Majors of the year, he played some great golf, featuring prominently on the leader board at both the Masters and then the US Open, where he finished as joint top European in joint 5th place. 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 Padraig's 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. Padraig also topped the table in the year's Stroke Average and Greens in Regulation categories and finished the season ranked 10th in the world!
2002 saw Padraig establish himself as one of the world's 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 better 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 at 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 Open, and more recently at the Omega Hong Kong Open, as well as finishing runner up at the Benson & Hedges International Open and the Madrid Open. He finished the year ranked 8th in the World.
European Tour wins
1996 - Peugeot Spanish Open
2000 - Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open, BBVA Open Turespaņa Masters Comunidad de Madrid
2001 - Volvo Masters Andalucia
2002 - Dunhill Links Championship
2003 - Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe, BMW Asian Open
2004 - Linde German Masters, Omega Hong Kong Open
US PGA Tour wins
2002 Target World Challenge (Unofficial event)
2005 - Honda Classic, Barclays ClassicOther wins
Professional
1998 Irish PGA Championship (not a European Tour event)
2004 Irish PGA Championship (not a European Tour event)
2005 Irish PGA Championship (not a European Tour event)
Amateur
1991 Sherry Cup
1994 West of Ireland Amateur
1995 Irish Amateur Open Championship, Irish Amateur Closed Championship
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padraig_Harrington
http://www.padraigharrington.com/aboutPadraig/default.sps?iType=4458&icustompageid=8334
http://spotted.augusta.com/masters/display.html?gallery=4139
| 
(
