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Duo of Double Whammies for Padraig Harrington on way to successfully defending The Open at Birkdale

Posted by Big G under Latest Golf News, Mens Pro Golf, The Four Majors, The Open Championship

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington repeated last year’s achievement of winning the Irish PGA Championship before going on to win the British Open.

At Royal Birkdale Golf Club today, Harrington started the final round two strokes behind former winner Greg Norman from Australia. The Irishman posted a final round of one under par 69 in blustery conditions for a +3 total of 283 for victory by four strokes from Ian Poulter of England. This included an awesome back nine of four under par of 32 which included him being -4 for the last six holes.

What makes the successful defence of The Open Golf Championship even more remarkable is the fact that, there were major concerns whether Harringtoin’s wrist injury would prevent him from being able to play in the competition.

Aswell as winning the Championship, Harrington hit the shot of the week - his second shot to the 71st hole (par-5 17th hole) which finished 3 feet from the hole and a tap-in eagle 3 to more or less seal victory.

England’s Ian Poulter put in a late surge on route to posting a one under par final round of 69 for runner-up position.

53 year old Norman finished with a disappointing final round of 77 for T3 position and will now head to the Seniors Open Golf Championship at Royal Troon next week as firm favourite.

KJ Choi of Korea, who led after 36 holes, fell away with a final round of 79 for +13 and T16 place, which included a four over par 8 at the last.

Henrik Stenson of Sweden finished in T3 place at +9 with Greg Norman after impressive final rounds of 70 & 71.

England’s Chris Wood from long Ashton Golf Club finished T5 with American Jim Furyk on his way to winning the Silver Medal for the leading amateur. Wood posted a final round of 72 for a +10 total of 290, which included rounds of 75, 73 & 70. He finished four shots ahead of fellow-countryman Thomas Sherreard who finished T19.

David Howell of England fired the best score of the day, a three under par 67 which included a three putt at the final hole. Howell finished in a tie for 7th place with eight other players on +12, which included former winners Ben Curtis and Ernie Els.

113th Open Golf Championship Final Scoreboard (Par 70 - Royal Birkdale) as Follows.

1 HARRINGTON, Padraig 18 IRL 74 68 72 69 283 +3

2 POULTER, Ian 18 ENG 72 71 75 69 287 +7

T3 STENSON, Henrik 18 SWE 76 72 70 71 289 +9

T3 NORMAN, Greg 18 AUS 70 70 72 77 289 +9

T5 FURYK, Jim 18 USA 71 71 77 71 290 +10

T5 WOOD, Chris (am) 18 ENG 75 70 73 72 290 +10

T7 HOWELL, David 18 ENG 76 71 78 67 292 +12

T7 KARLSSON, Robert 18 SWE 75 73 75 69 292 +12

T7 ELS, Ernie 18 RSA 80 69 74 69 292 +12

T7 CASEY, Paul 18 ENG 78 71 73 70 292 +12

T7 AMES, Stephen 18 CAN 73 70 78 71 292 +12

T7 STRICKER, Steve 18 USA 77 71 71 73 292 +12

T7 ALLENBY, Robert 18 AUS 69 73 76 74 292 +12

T7 KIM, Anthony 18 USA 72 74 71 75 292 +12

T7 CURTIS, Ben 18 USA 78 69 70 75 292 +12

T16 SCOTT, Adam 18 AUS 70 74 77 72 293 +13

T16 LEONARD, Justin 18 USA 77 70 73 73 293 +13

T16 CHOI, KJ 18 KOR 72 67 75 79 293 +13

T19 VAN DE VELDE, Jean18 FRA 73 71 80 70 294 +14

T19 HAVRET, Gregory 18 FRA 71 75 77 71 294 +14

T19 WARING, Paul 18 ENG 73 74 76 71 294 +14

T19 MICKELSON, Phil 18 USA 79 68 76 71 294 +14

T19 McDOWELL, Graeme18 NIR 69 73 80 72 294 +14

T19 JACOBSON, Fredrik 18 SWE 71 72 79 72 294 +14

T19 SHERREARD, Thomas (am) 18ENG77 69 76 72 294 +14

T19 IMMELMAN, Trevor 18 RSA 74 74 73 73 294 +14

T19 HANSEN, Anders 18 DEN 78 68 74 74 294 +14

T19 LOVE III, Davis 18 USA 75 74 70 75 294 +14

T19 MEDIATE, Rocco 18 USA 69 73 76 76 294 +14

T19 NOREN, Alexander 18 SWE 72 70 75 77 294 +14

T19 WAKEFIELD, Simon 18 ENG 71 74 70 79 294 +14

T32 GREEN, Richard 18 AUS 76 72 76 71 295 +15

T32 ROMERO, Andres 18 ARG 77 72 74 72 295 +15

T32 O’HERN, Nick 18 AUS 74 75 74 72 295 +15

T32 SLOCUM, Heath 18 USA 73 76 74 72 295 +15

T32 LEHMAN, Tom 18 USA 74 73 73 75 295 +15

T32 HAMILTON, Todd 18 USA 74 74 72 75 295 +15

T32 GOOSEN, Retief 18 RSA 71 75 73 76 295 +15

T39 AIKEN, Thomas 18 RSA 75 71 82 68 296 +16

T39 DUVAL, David 18 USA 73 69 83 71 296 +16

T39 CANETE, Ariel 18 ARG 78 71 76 71 296 +16

T39 BOURDY, Gregory 18 FRA 74 74 75 73 296 +16

T39 WILLIAMSON, Jay 18 USA 73 72 77 74 296 +16

T39 AUSTIN, Woody 18 USA 76 72 74 74 296 +16

T39 BRYANT, Bart 18 USA 70 78 74 74 296 +16

T39 WEIR, Mike 18 CAN 71 76 74 75 296 +16

T39 VILLEGAS, Camilo 18 COL 76 65 79 76 296 +16

T39 KHAN, Simon 18 ENG 77 72 71 76 296 +16

T39 STORM, Graeme 18 ENG 76 70 72 78 296 +16

T39 FISHER, Ross 18 ENG 72 74 71 79 296 +16

T51 WALL, Anthony 18 ENG 71 73 81 72 297 +17

T51 CAMPBELL, Michael18 NZL 75 74 74 74 297 +17

T51 APPLEBY, Stuart 18 AUS 72 71 79 75 297 +17

T51 LABELLE II, Doug 18 USA 78 70 74 75 297 +17

T51 JOHNSON, Zach 18 USA 73 72 76 76 297 +17

T51 FROST, David 18 RSA 75 73 73 76 297 +17

T51 GARCIA, Sergio 18 ESP 72 73 74 78 297 +17

T58 FINCH, Richard 18 ENG 75 73 78 72 298 +18

T58 GILLIS, Tom 18 USA 74 72 79 73 298 +18

T58 STADLER, Kevin 18 USA 72 75 78 73 298 +18

T58 VERPLANK, Scott 18 USA 77 67 78 76 298 +18

T58 MONTGOMERIE, Colin18 SCO 73 75 74 76 298 +18

T58 HANSON, Peter 18 SWE 71 72 78 77 298 +18

T64 LIANG, Wen Chong 18 CHN 77 71 77 74 299 +19

T64 LOMAS, Jonathan 18 ENG 75 73 76 75 299 +19

T64 HANSEN, Soren 18 DEN 75 69 77 78 299 +19

T67 WESTWOOD, Lee 18 ENG 75 74 78 73 300 +20

T67 HORSEY, David 18 ENG 74 70 79 77 300 +20

T67 GONNET, Jean-Baptiste18 FRA 75 72 73 80 300 +20

T70 JONES, Brendan 18 AUS 74 73 83 71 301 +21

T70 ROSE, Justin 18 ENG 74 72 82 73 301 +21

T70 WIEGELE, Martin 18 AUT 75 74 78 74 301 +21

T70 ROLLINS, John 18 USA 73 75 77 76 301 +21

T70 PARRY, Craig 18 AUS 77 70 77 77 301 +21

T70 LIMA, Jose-Filipe 18 POR 73 76 75 77 301 +21

T70 OVERTON, Jeff 18 USA 72 75 75 79 301 +21

T70 LARRAZABAL, Pablo18 ESP 75 74 73 79 301 +21

T78 GLOVER, Lucas 18 USA 78 71 77 76 302 +22

T78 DOUGHERTY, Nick 18 ENG 75 71 79 77 302 +22

80 KAYMER, Martin 18 GER 75 72 79 77 303 +23

81 ARCHER, Phillip 18 ENG 75 74 78 77 304 +24

82 O’HAIR, Sean 18 USA 75 73 80 78 306 +26

83 LAM, Chih-Bing 18 SIN 72 75 83 81 311 +31