Pádraig Harrington (born 31 August 1971) (pronounced /ˈpɑːdrɪg/ in English, not /ˈpædrɪg/) is an Irish professional golfer. He has won tournaments on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He won the 2007 Open Championship, in which he defeated Sergio García in a four-hole playoff by one stroke. In doing so, he became the first European to win a major since Paul Lawrie won the same tournament in 1999, at the same venue (Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland). He was crowned the European Tour Golfer of the Year for 2007.

Career
Harrington was born in Ballyroan, Dublin, Ireland. The Ballyroan Parish is the birth place of two other touring professional golfers-Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie. It 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. (Click here to read the article in full)

Fred Daly (11 October 1911 – 18 November 1990) was a Northern Irish professional golfer who was best known for winning The Open Championship of 1947 at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake.

Daly was born in Portrush, County Antrim. He was the only Irishman from either side of the border to have won The Open until Padraig Harrington won it in 2007 . He won the Open with a total score of 293.

During his acceptance speech at Royal Liverpool he said he was very honoured to receive the Claret jug and take it back to Northern Ireland. He went on to say that the trophy had never been to Ireland and that he was hoping that the change of air would help it. There was much applause and laughter at his humorous comments.

He played in the Ryder Cup in 1947, 1949, 1951 and 1953.

He died in Belfast of a heart attack.

Tournament wins
1936 Irish International
1937 Irish International
1938 Irish International
1946 Irish Open
1947 Open Championship, News of the World Match Play
1948 Penfold Tournament, News of the World Match Play
1952 Daks Tournament, News of the World Match Play
Ulster Professional Championship - 8 times
Irish Professional Championship - 3 times

Graeme McDowell (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who plays on the European Tour.

McDowell was born in Portrush, Northern Ireland. Like an increasing number of promising junior UK golfers McDowell took a golf scholarship at an American university. He attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1998 to 2002. In 2002, he won the Haskins Award for most outstanding collegiate golfer in the United States. In 2001 he was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland team which retained the Walker Cup at Sea Island in Georgia.

McDowell turned professional in 2002 and won that season’s Volvo Scandinavian Masters, which was only his fourth start on the European Tour. He didn’t win in his second season, but in 2004 he claimed the Telecom Italia Open and finished sixth on the European Tour Order of Merit. In 2005 he divided his time between the European and PGA Tours. He was not yet a full member of the PGA Tour but his top 50 placing in the Official World Golf Rankings ensured he received invitations to play in many events in the U.S. and McDowell managed two top ten finishes on the PGA Tour including tied second place at the Bay Hill Invitational which earned him enough money to become fully exempt on the PGA Tour in 2006.

However he failed to finish in the top 150 in the 2006 PGA Tour money list and decided to return to the European Tour in 2007.

Amateur wins (5)
1996 Ulster Boys Championship
1999 Irish Youths Championship
2000 Irish Amateur Closed Championship, Irish Youths Championship, World Universities Championship

Professional wins (2)

European Tour wins (2)
2002 (1) Volvo Scandinavian Masters
2004 (1) Telecom Italia Open

Team appearances

Amateur
Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2001 (winners)
Palmer Cup: (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000 (winners), 2001

Professional
Seve Trophy: (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2005 (winners)
Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)

Rory McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Holywood, Northern Ireland, where he attended Sullivan Upper School. His home golf club is Holywood Golf Club.

Amateur career
McIlroy was a member of Europe’s winning 2004 Junior Ryder Cup team. In 2005 he became the youngest ever winner of both the West of Ireland Championship and the Irish Close Championship. He retained the West of Ireland Championship in 2006 and followed that up with back to back wins at the Irish Close Championship. In August 2006 he won the European Amateur at Biella Golf Club, near Milan, Italy. McIlroy won with the score of 274 (65-69-72-68). He won by three strokes over Englishman Lewton Stephen.

In July 2005 he shot a course record 61 at Royal Portrush Golf Club. In October 2006 McIlroy represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy and the Amateur World Team Championship. On 6 February 2007 he became the second man to top the World Amateur Golf Rankings, though he lost the top spot after just one week.

McIlroy shot an opening round of 3 under par 68 at the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie which put him in a tie for third place, three shots off the lead. He was also the only person in the field without a bogey in the first round. He then shot a 5 over par 76 in round two to put him at +2 for the championship, comfortably making the cut. In the third round he shot a 2 over par 73. In the final round he shot a 72 (+1) to finish at T42. He shot +5 overall and was the lowest finishing amateur.

McIlroy was part of the Great Britain & Ireland team at the 2007 Walker Cup. On the first day of the event McIlroy was paired with Jonathan Caldwell for morning foursomes and the match was halved. In the afternoon he faced Billy Horschel in singles but Horschel won 1 up. On the second day McIlroy and Caldwell lost in morning foursomes by the score of 2 & 1. In the afternoon he faced Billy Horschel in singles again and this time he won by the score of 1 up. McIlroy’s overall record was (1-2-1) in Win-Loss-Tie format. In the end the United States came out victorious by a score of 12½ to 11½.

McIlroy made his first appearance in a European Tour event a few days after turning sixteen, when he took part in the 2005 British Masters. He made the cut on the European Tour for the first time as a seventeen year old at the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, where he had to forego prize money of over €7,600 due to his amateur status.

Amateur wins (5)
2005 (2) West of Ireland Championship, Irish Close Championship
2006 (3) West of Ireland Championship, Irish Close Championship, European Amateur

Professional career
2007
McIlroy turned professional on September 19 which was the day before the Quinn Direct British Masters. He signed with International Sports Management, a company that also manages Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and David Howell. At the British Masters, McIlroy shot 290 (+2) which put him in a tie for 42nd place. McIlroy finished in 3rd place at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October. He finished 3 strokes behind the winner Nick Dougherty. Due to this performance, McIlroy put himself in position to become the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of The European Tour to earn a tour card. The next week McIlroy secured his card for 2008 by finishing in a tie for 4th place at the Madrid Open. On the 2007 European Tour season, McIlroy earned €277,255 and finished in 95th place on the Order of Merit list. He was the highest ranked associate member.

2008
Before his season started, Tiger Woods invited McIlroy to play in the 2007 Target World Challenge. He declined the invitation though, saying, “I was thrilled that they would want to invite me considering I’m only just starting out on my career.” McIlroy also said “That event clashes with the European Open and that’s an event I would be stupid not to play.”

McIlroy started his 2008 European Tour season at the UBS Hong Kong Open. He did not make the one-under cut though, missing it by four strokes. He shot a 69 in the 1st round and looked good to make the cut from there. McIlroy slipped up in the 2nd round though and shot a 74. This poor round made him miss his first cut as a professional. McIlroy bounced back by finishing in a tie for 15th at the MasterCard Masters in Australia.

McIlroy entered the top 200 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time on January 27 2008.

Team appearances

Amateur
Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners)
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Ireland): 2006
Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2007