Royal Birkdale Open Champions, 1954 – 2017
“Now that I’ve got two, I’ve got to think I’m in a different club . . .” – Padraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington was the defending champion when he came to Royal Birkdale in 2008. When he defeated Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie in 2007 Harrington became a national hero, the first Irishman to win The Open in 60 years. He had battled with some of the game’s titans – Tiger, Mickelson, Jiménez, Mickelson, Stenson, Love III, finally prevailing by one stroke in a four-hole aggregate playoff against Garcia.
Harrington had won the Irish Open and looked dialed in and ready to defend at Birkdale, but he sustained a wrist injury just before the tournament and wasn’t able to do much more than hit a few shots on the range.
Robert Allenby, Graeme McDowell, and Rocco Mediate set the pace that year with first round 69s. Harrington, with a 4-over 74 didn’t look particularly competitive. The weather was fair for the second round and with a 68 Harrington climbed up the board to within 3 shots of leader K.J. Choi.
While the wind howled in off the Irish Sea, occasionally gusting to 50 mph, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter were chasing hard and Greg Norman was doing everything he could to become the oldest major champion in history. But Harrington had gotten a taste of victory at that point and was fighting his way through the wind and rain, one shot at a time. He recalled,
"I liked being Open champion so much I didn’t want to give the trophy back."
Poulter couldn’t hold his second round position and Stenson was hobbled by his first round 76 but Harrington held steady during the third round and edged up to within two shots of Norman’s 2-over lead.
In the final round Padraig Harrington pulled away from the pack. Birdies on the 13th and 15th gave him some breathing room from Poulter, who was pushing hard. Then, on the 17th the Irishman hit a 272 yard shot from the fairway that’s the stuff of golf legend, giving him a tap-in eagle and a four shot margin of victory over Poulter. Two strokes back of Poulter, Stenson and Norman finished T3 that year.
Next: Royal Birkdale will give us a big-name winner
And who will prevail this year on the Birkdale Links. We’ll know soon. Let’s sit sit back and enjoy the battle that’s about to begin.