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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Patrick Harrington had practiced, after all.
Given another chance at jumping into his father's welcoming arms on the final green, the happy 3-year-old made the perfect winning leap, both in timing, execution and exaltation.
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| Patrick Harrington wants a piece of the Claret Jug, but his dad has the final word. (Getty Images) |
It was a leap of faith. Like his dad, Patrick was just warming up.
Given a reprieve when Sergio Garcia bogeyed the 72nd hole, Harrington became the first Irishman to win the Open title in 60 years, edging the hard-luck Spaniard by one shot in a four-hole aggregate playoff Sunday after both players finished an indescribably wild day at 7 under par.
Harrington, with the proverbial one hand on the Claret Jug as he played the 72nd hole with a one-shot lead, sprayed his tee ball into the drink and followed with an even uglier iron shot into the burn. He was forced to convert a five-footer for a double bogey just to keep any hope of a playoff alive.
"If I'd lost, it would have been very hard to take," said Harrington, who came from six shots back to become the first European to win a major since 1999. "If I had lost, I don't know what I'd have thought about ever playing golf again."
Garcia is having similar thoughts.
Seeking to become only the second player in 34 years to win in wire-to-wire fashion, he wobbled in the middle of the round, then rebounded with clutch birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to get back in the mix. With a chance to exorcise his many well-chronicled demons at the majors with a winning putt on the 72nd hole, Garcia's 10-foot par attempt painfully grazed the hole.
Aye, caramba.
"It's not news to me," Garcia groused of his luck. "I still don't know how that putt missed."
In an ending that can only be described as chaotic, Garcia was one shot behind and alone in second place behind Harrington as he stood on the 17th tee, whereupon Harrington's wild tee shot on the 18th bounced off a pedestrian bridge and into the burn located a few yards from where the Spaniard stood. Nothing was pedestrian from that point onward.
With Garcia watching from a few feet away, Harrington took a penalty drop, and then splashed another ball into the burn where it crosses in front of the green. Instantly, everybody had flashbacks to the last Open played at Carnoustie in 1999, when Frenchman Jean Van de Velde made a triple bogey on the 72nd hole to blow a three-shot lead.
The groans could be heard all the way to Dublin. Then he pitched to within four feet and knocked in the putt, which meant Garcia had to par the hole to win. Garcia didn't. It was unbelievable theater, even for those with a vested interest.
"We had visions of Van de Velde there, didn't we?" Harrington's wife, Caroline, said as she awaited Garcia's fate on the 72nd hole.
Stewart Cink, who played alongside Harrington, almost covered his eyes as he watched Harrington seemingly trash a beautiful round.
"The 18th just has so much danger," Cink said. "It's everywhere. It hurts a little bit to even see that happening. It's almost numbing."
Harrington watched Garcia finish the 72nd from the scorer's trailer, the sound turned off.
"Obviously, I didn't want to hear analysis of my 6," he cracked.
Harrington quickly took control in the playoff with a birdie on No. 1, the first extra hole, making a birdie to take a two-shot lead. Garcia shaved the edge of the cup on the second and third holes but couldn't catch up. Harrington finally sealed the deal with a nervous 3-footer for a bogey on the dreaded 18th.
"The emotions of it? I couldn't believe it," he said. "'Am I the Open champion?' I was thinking. There was so much going through my head and a huge amount of it was genuine shock."
Given the way Harrington had played, that's a bit hard to believe. He had four birdies, an eagle and zero bogeys on the card before he fanned his tee ball into the drink on the 18th.
"He didn't miss a shot for 17 holes," said Mike Davis, the USGA rules official assigned to referee the group. "Then, can you imagine, he hits two in the water and has to get up and down just to have any chance?"
Yep, hard to imagine, and harder to watch it come to fruition. Garcia, who shot a 2-over 73 after starting the day with a three-shot lead, knew he needed a par on the 18th and hit a safe 2-iron off the tee but found a bunker with his 3-iron approach and failed to get up and down.
Garcia sputtered as players started piling up birdies behind him and fell out of the lead for the first time all week midway through the round. But this time he fought back with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 when it looked like he was starting his seemingly inevitable Sunday wobble.
Down the stretch, Garcia shaved the lip of the cup on Nos. 15, 17 and 18, plus all four holes of the playoff. Early in the round, he hit a drive into a divot. His best shot of the day, an approach on the second playoff hole, hit the flagstick and bounced 15 feet away. He missed from there.
Not surprisingly, Garcia was left to wonder whether the gods have conspired against him. His only solace was found in sarcasm when asked if he was disappointed.
"No, I'm thrilled," said Garcia, who finished in the top five for the third straight year at the Open, but is still winless in the majors. "Happiest man in the world."
No, that would be the other guy, obviously. Harrington, one of the most genuinely likeable pros on tour, turned pro after college at 21 and hoped merely to eke out a nice life. Visions of victories were for the more accomplished players. Now the 35-year-old Irishman, who walks with a jaunty gait and an easy smile, has done the ultimate.
Europe, and Ireland in particular, has been waiting years to throw a party like this for a native son.
"I don't know if I ever believed I was going to do it," he said, "but this week, I tried to convince myself I could do it."
As Harrington spoke to a packed room of writers afterward, his son was seated nearby and attempting to get his mitts around the Claret Jug, which was stationed on the table fronting Harrington. Not so fast, son. Dad whispered something in his son's ear, and the fidgeting soon stopped.
After all, dad had hoisted his son twice already.
Now it was time to raise the Jug.