The newly crowned US PGA champion Padraig Harrington was this morning coming to terms with the fact he had achieved something his heroes could not - back-to-back majors in the same year. Three weeks on from his four-shot victory at Royal Birkdale to record consecutive British Open Championship wins, the Irishman Harrington was toasting his success in becoming the first European since Scotland's Tommy Armour in 1930 to win the US PGA Championship. His magnificent victory also made him the first European not only to win the British Open and the US PGA Championship in the same year but to win consecutive majors in the same year.
He won at Oakland Hills by two shots over Sergio Garcia, of Spain, and America's Ben Curtis. That is something his multi-major-winning European heroes of the 1980s, such as Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo, never managed. "Obviously things like that will take time to sink in," said Harrington. "At the moment, I'm just enjoying the PGA win for the PGA win. "I really do like the fact that no other European has won two majors consecutively, because obviously I hold a lot of European players who I grew up watching in high esteem. To believe I achieved something they hadn't is very special."
Harrington had gone into last month's British Open struggling with a wrist injury and went into the PGA complaining of feeling drained after his Open victory. "I actually struggle with things that are comfortable," said Harrington. " It's something that I work on with [sports psychologist] Bob Rotella. And that's why I have done well when I'm not quite on my game. I've won many a tournament where I felt I wasn't swinging as well as I could." The National Staff