Harrington survives nightmare on last hole to win Open

Padraig Harrington broke the heart of Sergio Garcia here at the 136th Open Championship yesterday to win his first major, but to sum it up as such would be criminally simplistic. For this was one of the most nerve-racking, most action-packed and, yes, most glorious final days in the history of golf. Carnoustie got the champion it deserved, all right. A bloody good one.

But what is it about this place and the bizarre, the surreal and the unthinkable? How does the old Angus links manage to reduce professionals to knee-shaking hackers? What causes a player as solid as Harrington to blow a one-shot advantage down the last by visiting that infamous Barry Burn not once, but twice, yet still be worthy of a play-off he was to win by a shot? It must be something in the water (apart from the balls of the vanquished and victorious).

Be sure, the coverage of this final day will be replayed time and time again, although in truth it should only be shown after the watershed. This was white-knuckled stuff and the spectator had no choice but to grip and just hang on. Imagine how the poor competitors felt out there, being thrown this way and that on the Carnoustie cannonball run.

When the game's most terrifying ride was eventually over last night, Harrington was celebrating becoming the first European to lift a major title in eight years ­ indeed, since Paul Lawrie's own epic here in 1999 ­ and the first and only Irish major winner since Fred Daly in 1947.

The 35-year-old was instantly elevated to immortal status in his country, which has waited and waited, and his tears told of the blessed joy and relief. "I've convinced myself all week that I was going to win," he said. "If I'd lost I don't know what I'd think about playing golf again. It meant that much to me. It was an extraordinary, extraordinary day."

Such tension seemed unlikely when Garcia extended his overnight lead to four shots on the third hole. But the only thing to expect around Carnoustie is the unexpected and Garcia's first bogey in 29 holes ­ since the 11th on Friday ­ kick-started four more hours of entertainment that was at times enthralling and, at others, excruciating. Players of the calibre of Ernie Els threatened and fell until it came down to a three-man battle. Garcia, Harrington and Andres Romero ­ two of Europe's finest and a little-known Argentine. While the first two were to light up the home fires, the last-named provided a lot of the fireworks.

Few, if anyone, would have envisaged this recent Challenge Tour graduate adding so much to the sensation. In the 13 holes from the seventh onwards, Romero compiled an extraordinary sequence of nine birdies, two bogeys, two double-bogeys and, get this, no pars. And when the 26-year-old stood on the 17th tee he was, amazingly, two ahead. After waiting 40 years for Angel Cabrera to win them their second major, Argentina looked on the brink of winning two in two months. Then came Romero's Van de Velde moment.

After finding the thick rough on the right, he unwisely went for the green and saw his long-iron hurtle towards the burn. In there, it hit the rock wall and ricocheted 50 yards right over the out-of-bounds marker. The result was another double-bogey and the bogey at the last brought to a close one of the more memorable Open cameos. Later the poor man was inconsolable when realising that even two closing bogeys would have netted him a play-off spot.

Whatever, it was now between Sergio and Padraig, the two Ryder Cup pals, and the cheers from the sizeable Irish contingent began to drown out the young matador's support. As the madness had been going on all round him, Harrington had been treading that determined, manic-eyed way of his up the leader board, with no bogeys and two birdies in the first 13 holes. Then at the 14th, he made his move, capitalising on a fortunate hop on to the green to hole his 12-footer for eagle.

As Romero fell, so Paddy rose and he was suddenly in the lead, one ahead of Garcia and so it was his turn to stand on that 18th tee.

Cue Harrington's Van de Velde moment. Only a few days before, Harrington had declared that no lead could be deemed a winning one on that final hole and you could almost hear the words reverberating around his skull as he sliced his drive towards the arm of that malevolent, winding burn on the 17th.

For a second it dared to bounce across a bridge before it did the right thing and ducked into the water. Harrington took his penalty drop and went for the green. Plop! Again! Incredibly, his second ball was wet as well, this time finding the burn in front of the putting surface. At least he was able to better Van de Velde's seven, but only with a chip to four feet to complete one of the more unusual double-bogeys to put him one ahead of Romero in the clubhouse on seven-under. Harrington hugged his son, Patrick, before heading to the scorer's hut, knowing that the mission for Garcia was now simple ­ a par down the 18th for his long-awaited major.

Really simple, that.

In the event, Garcia split the fairway, then found the greenside bunker, blasted out to eight feet and had that putt for the Open. For seven and a half of those yards it was centre cup, before agonisingly turning at the very last. It circled around the hole and somehow stayed up. "I thought it was in," admitted Harrington, who was watching on the television.

So a four-hole play-off. Well, it had to be, didn't it? Back to the first tee they went and Harrington, who had belligerently maintained his focus, immediately set about proving the weight of his 67 compared to Garcia's 73 by going two shots clear after he birdied from nine feet and Garcia bogeyed after finding the bunker. Surely it was over now, especially after he retained that advantage through the 16th and 17th, the second and third extra holes?

Remember the words "nothing is over until the 18th is over". Harrington did and finally brought some sense to proceedings. He played the hole as a par-five, laying up before the burn on his second shot, chipping on, settling for a bogey and thus making Garcia need a birdie to take it to sudden-death.

The plan worked as Garcia could not cajole in his 25-footer ­ but, boy, how close it came. And when Harrington tapped in his three-footer, the Dubliner was delirious, the Spaniard shell-shocked. It had to be that way as those contrasting emotions were the essence of this remarkable afternoon.

"As soon as that putt went in I felt a tremendous surge," said Harrington. "I was Open champion, but I didn't know what that meant. It still hasn't sunk in, the impact it will have in Ireland, everything." Indeed, it was to be a double celebration on the island as Rory McIlroy won the prize for leading amateur. This was the Irish golf fan's finest hour. "It will be one hell of a party," promised Harrington. Where they were to summon the energy from was anyone's guess.

Final positions and prize-money

Country Total Money

1 P Harrington Ireland 277 £750,000

2 S Garcia Spain 277 £450,000

3 A Romero Argentina 278 £290,000

=4 E Els S Africa 279 £200,000

=4 R Green Australia 279 £200,000

=6 H Mahan US 280 £145,000

=6 S Cink US 280 £145,000

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