Irish Eyes Smiling

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

 

BETHLEHEM, PA. Closing out tournaments is never an easy deal but doing so in a major event can be an especially daunting challenge.

Playing in his first U.S. Senior Open Irishman Padraig Harrington entered the final round at Saucon Valley’s Old Course with a five-shot lead. Closing out matters was not that simple with former 2019 Open winner Steve Stricker applying pressure down the stretch.

What seemed at the start of the round as a foregone conclusion was anything but.

Harrington sealed his victory by holing a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th hole, and closing with three solid two-putt pars.

 

 

The 50-year-old carded a 1-over-par 72 for a 72-hole total of 10-under 274 to become the first player from the Republic of Ireland to hoist the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy. He also joined World Golf Hall of Famers Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus as the only multiple winners of The Open Championship to also win the U.S. Senior Open. Harrington, a three-time major champion, claimed the Claret Jug in 2007 and 2008.

“I think it’s special for me to win this one just because I’ve never won a USGA event,” said Harrington. “I think that adds more than if you could turn around and win a different senior major. But because I was never a U.S. Open champion or a junior champion, it’s great to come and win the senior one. It adds something that I never had in my career.”

Said a gracious Stricker, who captained the USA side to victory over the European side led by Harrington last September in the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits: “Hats off to him. He played great. It was close, but he was the better player this week.” Harrington’s career has been often neglected — sandwiched between the top Euro players from the previous generation with the likes of Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam — to those competing on the PGA Tour now with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry leading the way. 

Harrington did win three major championships in his career but it’s been pointed out that when Padraig claimed The Open and PGA Championships in the same year in 2008 — Woods was not in the field because of surgery to his broken leg following his epic win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Would the presence of Woods have changed matters? No one will ever be able to say with certainty but it should not diminish the achievement Harrington earned. 

What the Champion Receives
-Custody of the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy for one year
-A gold medal
-Exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Senior Opens
-Exemption into the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club
-First-place prize of $720,000

When Harrington faced Stricker last year in the Ryder Cup, the younger and more highly ranked American team simply vanquished Harrington’s European Tour by a score of 19-9. Harrington faced pushback on a range of fronts tied to his decisions regarding pairings and positioning of his line-up. In fairness, the juggernaut presented by a younger and deeper USA squad was no match for a European team that was outplayed. The final result would likely not have changed no matter who captained the Euro squad that week.

Harrington’s win returns the spotlight on his sterling career. Having turned professional in 1995, he has won 15 times on the European Tour and six times on the PGA Tour.  How good has Padraig been on the world stage? He spent over 300 weeks in the world top ten between 2001 and 2010 — achieving his best ranking of third following his second Open Championship victory. The Irishman was also a member of six consecutive Euro Ryder Cup teams.

This is the first time in 25 years that the U.S. Senior Open (Padraig Harrington), U.S. Open (Matt Fitzpatrick) and U.S. Women’s Open (Minjee Lee) were all won by non-Americans. In 1997, the three champions were Ernie Els (U.S. Open), Graham Marsh (U.S. Senior Open) and Alison Nicholas (U.S. Women’s Open).

Harrington’s schedule will now turn to key European events coming up with the Irish Open, Scottish Open and The Open Championship at St. Andrews, which is celebrating the 150^th playing. Harrington is one of only seven players since the end of World War II to successfully defend his Open title with his triumphs in 2007 and 2008.

In 2022, Harrington started playing on the PGA Tour Champions — finishing second to Stricker in his first Seniors major — The Tradition. Claiming victory over the star from Wisconsin at Saucon Valley provided a meaningful payback. 

Saucon Valley hosted a record 3^rd U.S. Senior Open and a sixth USGA Championship.

“I really appreciated the type of week it was. The USGA set up a fabulous course, much tougher than I had expected. I knew that would play into my hands, but it was a tough golf course. Saucon Valley is excellent. Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure on this type of style of golf course when you’re leading. You don’t want to make a mistake. It was definitely a tension-filled day.”

A day that showcased two gifted golfers battling down the stretch with only one man emerging triumphantly.

For Harrington it means his Irish eyes are indeed smiling now.

 

 

BETHLEHEM, PA. – Results from Sunday’s final round of the 2022 U.S. Senior Open Championship, played at 6,997-yard, par-71 Saucon Valley Country Club (Old Course).

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Padraig Harrington	-10	71	65	66	72	274
2	Steve Stricker	-9	68	69	73	65	275
3	Mark Hensby	-4	67	73	71	69	280
T4	Thongchai Jaidee	-3	70	69	72	70	281
T4	Rob Labritz	-3	69	69	69	74	281
T4	Gene Sauers	-3	72	67	68	74	281
T7	Jerry Kelly	-2	72	71	72	67	282
T7	Miguel Angel Jiménez	-2	79	64	70	69	282
T7	Paul Broadhurst	-2	68	74	70	70	282
T7	Jay Haas	-2	67	72	71	72	282
T11	David Toms	-1	72	70	69	72	283
T11	Steven Alker	-1	72	67	71	73	283
T13	Steve Flesch	Par	73	69	73	69	284
T13	Rod Pampling	Par	73	70	70	71	284
T13	Alex Cejka	Par	71	69	71	73	284
T13	Ernie Els	Par	72	70	67	75	284
17	Doug Barron	+1	72	68	71	74	285
T18	Retief Goosen	+2	71	71	75	69	286
T18	Brian Gay	+2	72	73	69	72	286
T18	Rocco Mediate	+2	68	71	74	73	286
T18	Ken Duke	+2	73	72	68	73	286
T18	Y.E. Yang	+2	74	72	67	73	286
T18	Ken Tanigawa	+2	75	68	69	74	286
24	Tracy Phillips	+3	72	69	74	72	287
T25	Stuart Appleby	+4	76	69	71	72	288
T25	Markus Brier	+4	71	71	71	75	288
T25	Jim Furyk	+4	71	76	66	75	288
T28	Bob Estes	+5	76	71	71	71	289
T28	Scott Parel	+5	72	75	70	72	289
T28	Colin Montgomerie	+5	75	71	70	73	289
T28	John Huston	+5	72	70	73	74	289
T28	Kevin Sutherland	+5	72	72	70	75	289
T33	Glen Day	+6	70	74	75	71	290
T33	Paul Goydos	+6	69	76	74	71	290
T33	Jeff Schmid	+6	75	70	73	72	290
T33	Lee Janzen	+6	74	72	72	72	290
T33	Jeff Sluman	+6	72	75	71	72	290
T33	Charlie Wi	+6	75	69	73	73	290
T33	Vijay Singh	+6	75	70	72	73	290
T33	Davis Love III	+6	76	68	71	75	290
T41	Michael Muehr	+7	71	73	78	69	291
T41	Andrew Johnson	+7	76	70	74	71	291
T41	Robert Karlsson	+7	71	74	74	72	291
T41	Tim Petrovic	+7	68	75	75	73	291
T41	Tom Gillis	+7	74	71	73	73	291
T41	Mark O’Meara	+7	75	72	70	74	291
T41	Jeff Brehaut	+7	75	67	73	76	291
T41	Cameron Beckman	+7	73	71	71	76	291
T49	Scott McCarron	+8	75	72	73	72	292
T49	Richard Green	+8	71	71	73	77	292
T51	Scott Verplank	+9	74	72	73	74	293
T51	John Senden	+9	73	72	72	76	293
T53	Willie Wood	+10	74	72	74	74	294
T53	Wes Short, Jr.	+10	70	73	74	77	294
T55	Clark Dennis	+11	73	70	77	75	295
T55	Phillip Price	+11	74	73	73	75	295
T55	Omar Uresti	+11	75	69	74	77	295
T58	Bob May	+12	76	70	77	73	296
T58	James Kingston	+12	71	76	76	73	296
60	Alan McLean	+13	73	73	74	77	297
61	Jeff Gove	+14	71	76	74	77	298
62	Gavin Coles	+15	74	73	77	75	299
63	Peter Baker	+16	74	73	74	79	300
64	Craig Thomas	+22	74	71	77	84	306
CUT	Todd White (a)	+6	73	75			148
CUT	Harrison Frazar	+6	75	73			148
CUT	Britt Pavelonis	+6	75	73			148
CUT	Matt Gogel	+6	75	73			148
CUT	Duffy Waldorf	+6	77	71			148
CUT	K.J. Choi	+6	77	71			148
CUT	Richard Gilkey	+7	74	75			149
CUT	Donald Carpenter III	+7	74	75			149
CUT	Joakim Haeggman	+7	74	75			149
CUT	Shane Bertsch	+7	72	77			149
CUT	David Duval	+7	78	71			149
CUT	Brett Quigley	+7	73	76			149
CUT	Bernhard Langer	+7	74	75			149
CUT	Jonathan Kaye	+7	78	71			149
CUT	Tom Byrum	+7	75	74			149
CUT	David Bahr	+8	77	73			150
CUT	Jeff Maggert	+8	74	76			150
CUT	Tim Weinhart	+8	75	75			150
CUT	Tony Soerries (a)	+8	74	76			150
CUT	Robert Allenby	+8	75	75			150
CUT	Joe Durant	+8	78	72			150
CUT	Stephen Dodd	+8	75	75			150
CUT	Stephen Ames	+8	75	75			150
CUT	Andrew Sapp	+9	76	75			151
CUT	Chris DiMarco	+9	76	75			151
CUT	Harry Rudolph	+9	81	70			151
CUT	David Noll (a)	+9	79	72			151
CUT	Brian Mogg	+9	75	76			151
CUT	Naoyuki Tamura	+9	80	71			151
CUT	Mauricio Molina	+9	74	77			151
CUT	Fred Funk	+9	75	76			151
CUT	Jack Larkin, Sr. (a)	+9	77	74			151
CUT	Mike Weir	+10	80	72			152
CUT	Woody Austin	+10	74	78			152
CUT	William Mitchell (a)	+10	82	70			152
CUT	Darren Clarke	+10	74	78			152
CUT	Kevin Kraft	+10	80	72			152
CUT	Charles Bolling	+11	79	74			153
CUT	Yoshinobu Tsukada	+11	76	77			153
CUT	Tom Pernice Jr.	+11	78	75			153
CUT	Michael Campbell	+11	79	74			153
CUT	Brian Wilson	+11	72	81			153
CUT	David McNabb	+11	75	78			153
CUT	Thomas Levet	+11	79	74			153
CUT	Miles McConnell (a)	+12	79	75			154
CUT	Olin Browne	+12	78	76			154
CUT	Dicky Pride	+12	79	75			154
CUT	Tim Cantwell	+12	76	78			154
CUT	Kelly Mitchum	+13	81	74			155
CUT	David Berganio, Jr.	+13	78	77			155
CUT	John Bickerton	+13	77	78			155
CUT	Bryan Hoops (a)	+13	78	77			155
CUT	Ed Kirby	+14	78	78			156
CUT	Mark Calcavecchia	+14	76	80			156
CUT	Mike Meehan	+14	82	74			156
CUT	Matthew Sughrue (a)	+15	83	74			157
CUT	David Hronek	+15	78	79			157
CUT	G. Davis Boland	+16	78	80			158
CUT	Yong Lee	+16	85	73			158
CUT	Gus Ulrich	+16	82	76			158
CUT	Dolph Roder	+16	83	75			158
CUT	Judd Gibb	+16	80	78			158
CUT	Roger Chapman	+16	80	78			158
CUT	Rafael Gómez	+16	84	74			158
CUT	Tim Parun	+17	82	77			159
CUT	Mike Molino	+17	84	75			159
CUT	Kirk Triplett	+17	76	83			159
CUT	Jerry Gunthorpe	+17	83	76			159
CUT	Jay Williamson	+17	74	85			159
CUT	Pat O’Donnell (a)	+18	85	75			160
CUT	Ned Zachar (a)	+18	77	83			160
CUT	Brian Spitz	+18	79	81			160
CUT	Mark Sanchez (a)	+18	82	78			160
CUT	Jim Roy	+18	86	74			160
CUT	Micah Rudosky	+18	86	74			160
CUT	Eddie Hargett (a)	+19	81	80			161
CUT	Jon Veneziano	+20	85	77			162
CUT	Joel Johnson	+20	84	78			162
CUT	Kevin Baker	+20	80	82			162
CUT	Robert Funk (a)	+21	78	85			163
CUT	Bob Niger	+21	83	80			163
CUT	Bill Harvey	+22	80	84			164
CUT	William Ayres	+22	82	82			164
CUT	Bill Van Orman	+22	79	85			164
CUT	Anthony Aguilar	+22	83	81			164
CUT	Tim Hogarth (a)	+22	82	82			164
CUT	Mike Karney	+24	87	79			166
CUT	James Barnes	+25	82	85			167
CUT	James Chung	+31	85	88			173
CUT	Gene Elliott (a)	+32	89	85			174
WD	Brandt Jobe	Par	55				55
WD	Jack Hall (a)	Par	85				85