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.

His first victory came quickly, in the 1996 Peugeot 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 second places in 2001 and 2002 and third places in 2003 and 2004 and eventually won the Order of Merit in 2006. In 2007, Harrington won the European Tour Golfer of the Year award.

Harrington’s 2006 European Order of Merit win came after a titanic battle with Paul Casey and David Howell which was won on the last hole of the last event. Sergio García bogeyed the 72nd hole in the season ending Volvo Masters to give Harrington a share of second place which earned him enough money to leapfrog Paul Casey to 1st place on the Order of Merit.

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 snatched 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 both in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 200 weeks between 2001 and 2008) and as the highest ranked European golfer, his best ranking being sixth. He has also played for Europe in four Ryder Cups; losing in 1999 but winning in 2002, 2004 and 2006.Harrington has also won the par-3 contest at the Augusta National Golf Club.

On July 22nd 2007 Harrington became the first Irishman to win The Open Championship in 60 years, when he defeated Sergio García in a four hole playoff at Carnoustie. Both players went into the play off having shot a 7 under 277 for the championship, Harrington subsequently winning by one shot. Upon seeing the Claret Jug, Harrington’s son Patrick was captured on camera saying “Can we put ladybirds in it?”.

Personal life
Harrington has been married to his wife Caroline since 1997 and has a son, Patrick, born in 2003. Their second child, Ciarán, was born in November 2007.

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

Equipment
Driver: Wilson Staff Dd6+
Woods: Wilson Staff Fw6 Fairway #5-wood
Hybrids: Wilson Staff Fh6 Hybrid (19°)
Irons: Wilson Staff Pi5 Irons #3-PW
Wedges: Titleist vokey wedges (52° and 60°)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Blade
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Glove: Titleist
Shoes: Hi-Tec CDT Super Power Tour
Bag: Wilson Staff Tour Bag

Amateur wins
1991 Sherry Cup
1994 West of Ireland Amateur
1995 Irish Amateur Open Championship, Irish Amateur Closed Championship

Professional wins

European Tour wins
Legend
Major Championships (1)
Other European Tour (11)

Other wins
1998 Irish PGA Championship
2002 Target World Challenge presented by Williams (unofficial money PGA Tour-sanctioned event)
2004 Irish PGA Championship
2005 Irish PGA Championship
2006 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament (Japan Golf Tour)
2007 Irish PGA Championship, Hassan II Trophy (Morocco)

Major championships

Wins (1)
2007 The Open Championship

1 Defeated Sergio García in four-hole playoff by 1 stroke: Harrington (3-3-4-5=15), García (5-3-4-4=16)

Team appearances
Amateur
Walker Cup: 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners)

Professional
Ryder Cup: 1999, 2002 (winners), 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners)
Alfred Dunhill Cup: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
World Cup: 1996, 1997 (winner with Paul McGinley), 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
The Seve Trophy: 2000, 2002 (winners), 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners)

Trivia
- Harrington is the only player in the world to have been partnered with Tiger Woods in a tournament five or more times and to outscore him.
- Harrington has a 68.83 average in six rounds, compared with Woods’ average score of 69.50. The rest of the world’s top players averaged over 70.
- Harrington had received permission from the European Tour to putt without his left shoe, on condition that he neither delays play when removing the shoe, nor stands on it when playing the ball. The golfer was claimed to be using this technique to help him put more weight through his left leg while practising. This decision was then overturned, ruling that he was not allowed to do it during tournament play.
- First man from the Republic of Ireland to win a golf major.
- Harrington is coached by Bob Torrance, the father of former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance.
- Holds a degree in accounting.
- Pádraig is an Irish language version of the name Patrick. It is a common name in Ireland and is pronounced pronounced [ˈpˠaːd̪ˠɾʲəɟ] “Pawd-rig”.