Harrington ends European major drought by winning British Open

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Padraig Harrington finally learned the lesson of Carnoustie, surviving a calamitous finish in regulation and a tense putt for bogey on the final hole of a playoff to win the British Open on Sunday.

In a nail-biter of a final round that stirred memories of Jean Van de Velde's collapse eight years ago, Harrington lost a one-shot lead on the 72nd hole by hitting into the Barry Burn -- not once, but twice -- on his way to double bogey.

It looked like a sure loss, but not on this crazy course.

Given a one-shot lead, Sergio Garcia gave it right back when he couldn't make par from a bunker on the last hole.

Harrington staked himself to a two-shot lead in the four-hole playoff. Instead of the bravado Van de Velde showed in 1999, the Irishman played it safe off the 18th tee in the playoff with an iron off the tee and laying up short of Barry Burn.

As the engraver began stenciling the Irishman's name into the claret jug to end Europe's eight-year wait for a triumph in a major, Garcia made a gutsy play by smoking a 6-iron from 203 yards out of the rough to birdie range. His 25-foot putt skimmed the edge of the cup, leaving Harrington a 3-footer for the win.

Paddy Harrington waves the Irish flag after his victory Sunday. (Getty Images)

"It's going to take a long time for it to sink in," Harrington said, the first Irishman to win the British Open in 60 years. "I know it was only a short putt, but the emotions of it ... I couldn't believe it as it was rolling in from right in the middle of the hole, and I'm thinking, 'The Open champion.' A huge amount of it was genuine shock."

Blame that on Carnoustie.

Garcia was devastated, blowing a three-shot lead going into the final round only to be handed a gift he couldn't take. He blasted out to 10 feet from the bunker on the 18th, and still doesn't know how the ball stayed out of the cup. It dipped slightly and spun away, forcing the third British Open playoff in the last six years.

"To tell you the truth, I don't feel like I did anything wrong," said Garcia, who closed with a 73 and was 1 over in the playoff. "I really didn't miss a shot in the playoff. I hit unbelievable putts. They just didn't go in."

Harrington, who closed with a 4-under 67 to make up a six-shot deficit, played the four playoff holes in even par, seizing control with a 7-iron into 8 feet for birdie on the first hole as Garcia made bogey from a bunker.

Like the last Open at Carnoustie, there was chaos in the end. Only this time, it involved more than one player.

Van de Velde self-destructed on his own in 1999, blowing a three-shot lead on the final hole by hitting one shot off a tiny rail in the grandstand, another into the burn, another in the bunker.