Padraig Harrington 'euphoric' to join elite golfing group after Senior Open win
With that victory Harrington became just the fifth player to win the Senior Open and The Open Championship following in the footsteps of Gary Player, Bob Charles, Tom Watson and Darren Clarke.
After successive 65s in rounds two and three, Harrington - who was battling his swing all week - carded a final round of 67 to secure victory by three strokes from Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard.
'I'm thrilled to have won but very satisfied that I've won a Senior Open with my two Opens,' Harrington said. 'The fact that only five people have ever done it is quite special. I'm quite proud that I've managed to survive this long in the game."
'I think they are the sort of things that you realise over the next couple of days, the significance of it. I'm thrilled, euphoric, that I've gotten it done.
'There are some great names on the trophy. I was watching it coming out last night. I was looking up inside at the board that has all the winners. It's a deep sense of satisfaction. I'm kind of on a high of winning, but then there will be that deep sense of satisfaction knowing that you've done both.
'And especially you come to this stage, there's only a certain window. You know, you can win later on as a senior but the window, they say, sort of up to about 55, 56, so you want to get it done.
'And having had a couple of second places, I didn't want to leave it too long. It would start becoming a problem if you don't win it too soon, and I'm glad I got mine.'
Victory for Harrington at Sunningdale was the Dubliner's third major title on the senior tour and his second in a row following on from his success at the Senior US Open last month.
For his troubles, the 53-year-old took home a monster cheque worth €681,000 to go with his trophy.
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