TIGER Woods better watch out because there is a new Celtic Tiger in his jungle. After a decade or so of being the king of the world, Woods suddenly has a serious competitor.
A few years back the notion that the challenger would be Irishman Padraig Harrington would have seemed far-fetched.
Harrington was a fine golfer with a tendency to finish second and fall short on the big occasions. He was certainly in the top echelon in Europe, but hardly stood out in comparison with Woods or Phil Mickelson.
That has all changed dramatically. Harrington has now won three of the last six major tournaments, a sequence that began with a hair’s breath victory in last year’s British Open and has continued with this year’s British title and now the PGA Championship which he won in spectacular fashion on Sunday.
That first major was the key to Harrington’s success. He should probably have lost, instead of winning a play-off over Spain’s Sergio Garcia, but the victory enabled him to bury the good loser tag forever and gave him supreme confidence to attack the big title tournaments.
Suddenly there is a contender in the jungle that Tiger has ruled supreme over for so long. Indeed, Harrington has now won more majors than Woods over the past few years.
Harrington’s PGA Championship on Sunday is probably the most surprising of the lot. Going into the final two rounds he seemed in a hopeless position, well back in the pack, but he closed on the field like Silky Sullivan down the stretch.
(For readers too young to remember Silky Sullivan, he was an incredible California racehorse who insisted on coming from 30 lengths or so back to win his races.)
Harrington is now certainly the greatest living Irish sportsman, and bids fair for the title of most successful Irish sportsman of all time.
That title was probably between Roy Keane, the famous soccer player, and Ron Delaney who won gold in the 1,500 meters in the Melbourne 1956 Olympics.
But Harrington, with his three victories in one of the most competitive games in the world, has surpassed them all. He has done so while retaining a modest personality that is at odds with the rampant egos in the sports world today.
He has also done so through an incredible dedication to practice, practice, practice. He is not the booming drive hitter or great chipper that Woods and Mickelson are, but he will outwork them on any given day.
The son of a cop from a modest background, Harrington was also a talented Gaelic footballer and hurler who made golf his career only after taking his degree in accountancy.
The coverage of the first two days of the PGA Championship was all about Mickelson and other fancied contenders, with Harrington well down the list. Indeed, he was not even announced as the British Open winner when he teed off on the first day.
One hardly expects the Dublin-based, former accountant will be treated with such little respect again. He has done Ireland proud, and Irish America as well.
The good news is that beginning August 19, Harrington will be playing in the New York area at the Barclays/PGA tour event at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. Let’s make sure he gets a right Irish welcome when he steps on to that first tee.