Green Posse » padraig harrington

Harrington Wins PGA Player of the Year

Sandy Mitchell — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:00:07 +0000

Padraig Harrington, pictured above after winning the PGA Championship this year, was named the PGA Player of the year for 2008. The 37-year-old Irishman won the British Open (for the second straight year) and the PGA Championship this past year. He is just the second European player to receive the honor. (Nick Faldo won the award in 1990.) The award, first presented to Ben Hogan in 1948, is based on a formula that weighs tournament wins, official money standing, and scoring average. Although there are four more PGA tournaments this year, Harrington’s 116 points are out of range of any other player.

^{(Image © Newscom)}

Post from: Green Posse

Harrington to Make South Carolina his US Base

Sandy Mitchell — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:34:33 +0000

Three-time major champion, Padraig Harrington says that Dublin is just to far to go home between tournaments in the United States. So, he’s buying property in upstate South Carolina. According to “The State” newspaper, he and his wife and 5-year-old son have been house-hunting in some of the area’s new developments. Harrington won’t be the only prominent golfer to spend at least part of the year in South Carolina. South Africa’s Gary Player makes the Palmetto State his home during the golf season.

Post from: Green Posse

Making Sense of the FedExCup Playoffs

Sandy Mitchell — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:52:40 +0000

The second annual FedExCup PGA playoffs begin this week with The Barclay’s Tournament in Paramus, New Jersey. The FedExCup spans four tournaments and rewards the top finishers with an extra bonus of up to $10 million. The FedExCup period this year spans five weeks instead of four as the Ryder Cup event falls within September and is not a part of the playoff event.

Beginning the playoffs, the top ten players are:

Tiger Woods
Kenny Perry
Phil Mickelson
Padraig Harrington
Anthony Kim
Stewart Cink
Vijay Singh
Justin Leonard
Ryuji Imada
Geoff Ogilvy

Of course, Woods will not be competing in any of the FedExCup events due to his having knee surgery earlier in the season.

For a detailed look at the PGA Playoffs, see this Fedexplanation from the writers at the Golf Channel.

Post from: Green Posse

Harrington Repeats as Open Champ

Sandy Mitchell — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:31:26 +0000

Irishman, Padraig Harrington (pictured above with his family) quietly won Britain’s Open Championship yesterday, his second Open victory in a row and his first win since he was awarded the Claret Cup in 2007. While the world was fascinated by 53-year-old (and two-time Open winner) Greg Norman’s place at the top of the leaderboard, Harrington played solid golf all week, despite an injured wrist and brutal weather conditions that included up to 40 mph winds.

Though Norman was leading by one stroke going into the back nine on the final round, Harrington rose to the occasion, sinking three straight birdie putts and scoring an eagle on the 17th hole. It was enough to win by 4 strokes over Ian Poulter and 5 strokes over Norman and Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who tied for third.

Another noteworthy performance that got lost in all of the excitement was the 5th place finish of 20-year-old British amateur golfer, Chris Wood. Said Wood, “It was the best week of my life.”

…and they said that golf without Tiger would be boring!

Post from: Green Posse