Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008. He spent over 300 weeks in the top-10 of the world rankings, and reached a career-high ranking of third in July 2008. Harrington was a member of six consecutive Ryder Cup teams between 1999 and 2010. In 2024, he will be an inductee of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Background
Harrington was born in Dublin, Ireland, the youngest of five sons of Patrick and Breda Harrington. His father, "Paddy" (1933–2005), a Garda who played Gaelic football for Cork in the 1950s, was also a boxer and hurler, and played to a five handicap in golf.
He grew up in Rathfarnham, an area on Dublin's southside and the birthplace of two other professional golfers, Paul McGinley and Peter Lawrie. Harrington attended the same local secondary school as McGinley (though not in the same year), giving their school, Coláiste Éanna, the unique distinction of having produced two Ryder Cup captains. Encouraged by his brothers and father, Harrington's interest and passion for golf grew as he developed his game at nearby Stackstown G.C.
Professional career
European Tour (1996–2007) After a successful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain & Ireland team in his third appearance in 1995, Harrington turned professional later that year, joining the European Tour in 1996. Harrington came to professional golf at a relatively late age, having studied accountancy at university for a number of years while playing high-standard amateur golf. He was unsure whether to turn professional, initially doubting his skills.
His first victory came quickly, in the 1996 Peugeot Spanish Open, his 10th start on the European Tour. 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. With these runners up finishes Harrington qualified to make his Ryder Cup debut in 1999. During this period outside of the European Tour circuit Harrington won the 1998 Irish PGA Championship.
However, in 2000 Harrington discovered a winning touch with two European Tour wins at the Brazil São Paulo 500 Years Open in April, and the BBVA Open Turespaña Masters Comunidad de Madrid in October. With these wins Harrington finished 7th on the European Tour Order of Merit for the second time equaling his 1999 finish. In 2001 Harrington won his fourth tournament on the European Tour at the Volvo Masters Andalucia, this win and 6 runners up finishes in 2001 lifted Harrington to a then career high year end finish of second on the European Tour's Order of Merit.
2002 was another successful year on the European Tour with particular success towards the end of the season including winning at the Dunhill Links Championship in October, having birdied the final hole to get into a playoff with Eduardo Romero. This win and a further 9 top ten finishes earned Harrington a second-place finish on the European Tour's Order of Merit for the second consecutive season. This form earned Harrington a second Ryder Cup appearance at the 2002 Ryder Cup hosted at The Belfry, in the final day singles Harrington, playing in match 5, won an important point against Mark Calcavecchia helping Europe to victory and regain the cup by a score of 15.5 to 12.5.
Harrington continued this winning form into 2003 winning the first event of the 2003 season at the BMW Asian Open in November 2002. Following Harrington's success in 2001 and 2002 he was invited to, and won, the 2002 Target World Challenge, an unofficial event in the USA hosted by Tiger Woods, whilst this is not a PGA Tour event it marked Harrington's first win in the United States. His winning form continued into the new year winning the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe in May 2003. With these two wins Harrington finished third on the 2003 European Tour Order of Merit.