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2008 / Royal Birkdale
Like Tiger Woods two years earlier, Padraig Harrington successfully defended his title, becoming the first European to do so at The Open since James Braid in 1906.
This was a more comfortable occasion than his play-off win at Carnoustie and after an eagle at the 17th, thanks to a 5-wood from 249 yards to three feet, he was able to enjoy a celebratory walk up the 18th fairway on the way to winning by four strokes from Ian Poulter.
“I’m holding on to this,” he said cradling the Claret Jug. “I had a great year as Open Champion, so much so I didn’t want to give it back.”
Amazingly, Harrington almost had to withdraw after injuring his right wrist while swinging his driver into a bean bag the previous weekend. If it helped to dampen expectations, the gales that battered Birkdale throughout the week also helped Harrington maintain his concentration.
What the conditions required were some wily know-how of links golf and double Champion Greg Norman provided just that. The 53-year-old had not played in a major for three years and was still on honeymoon following his wedding to tennis star Chris Evert.
Yet Norman was a stroke off the lead after the first two rounds and after a 72 in the 30mph-plus wind of Saturday put him two clear of Harrington and KJ Choi. The romantic tale could not last and he closed with a 77, though he briefly regained the lead when Harrington had three bogeys in a row to end the front nine.
Norman finished in third place with Henrik Stenson, two behind Poulter and one ahead of Jim Furyk and Chris Wood, a 20-year-old from Bristol who won the Silver Medal and had the best finish by an amateur since Justin Rose’s fourth place in 1998.
Name
Finish
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
Par
Robert KARLSSON
7
75
73
75
69
292
-
Stephen AMES
7
73
70
78
71
292
-
David HOWELL
7
76
71
78
67
292
-
Robert ALLENBY
7
69
73
76
74
292
-
Steve STRICKER
7
77
71
71
73
292
-
Anthony KIM
7
72
74
71
75
292
-
KJ CHOI
16
72
67
75
79
293
-
Davis LOVE III
19
75
74
70
75
294
-
Freddie JACOBSON
19
71
72
79
72
294
-
Simon WAKEFIELD
19
71
74
70
79
294
-
Anders HANSEN
19
78
68
74
74
294
-
Trevor IMMELMAN
19
74
74
73
73
294
-
Rocco MEDIATE
19
69
73
76
76
294
-
Gregory HAVRET
19
71
75
77
71
294
-
Paul WARING
19
73
74
76
71
294
-
Thomas SHERREARD
19
77
69
76
72
294
-
Heath SLOCUM
32
73
76
74
72
295
-
Andres ROMERO
32
77
72
74
72
295
-
Nick O'HERN
32
74
75
74
72
295
-
Retief GOOSEN
32
71
75
73
76
295
-
Richard GREEN
32
76
72
76
71
295
-
Woody AUSTIN
39
76
72
74
74
296
-
Mike WEIR
39
71
76
74
75
296
-
Thomas AIKEN
39
75
71
82
68
296
-
Graeme STORM
39
76
70
72
78
296
-
Simon KHAN
39
77
72
71
76
296
-
Bart BRYANT
39
70
78
74
74
296
-
Gregory BOURDY
39
74
74
75
73
296
-
Ross FISHER
39
72
74
71
79
296
-
Jay WILLIAMSON
39
73
72
77
74
296
-
Camilo VILLEGAS
39
76
65
79
76
296
-
Ariel CANETE
39
78
71
76
71
296
-
Doug LABELLE II
51
78
70
74
75
297
-
Anthony WALL
51
71
73
81
72
297
-
Michael CAMPBELL
51
75
74
74
74
297
-
David FROST
51
75
73
73
76
297
-
Scott VERPLANK
58
77
67
78
76
298
-
Tom GILLIS
58
74
72
79
73
298
-
Peter HANSON
58
71
72
78
77
298
-
Kevin STADLER
58
72
75
78
73
298
-
Richard FINCH
58
75
73
78
72
298
-
Liang WEN-CHONG
64
77
71
77
74
299
-
Soren HANSEN
64
75
69
77
78
299
-
Jonathan LOMAS
64
75
73
76
75
299
-
David HORSEY
67
74
70
79
77
300
-
Jean-Baptiste GONNET
67
75
72
73
80
300
-
Brendan JONES
70
74
73
83
71
301
-
Jose-Filipe LIMA
70
73
76
75
77
301
-
Martin WIEGELE
70
75
74
78
74
301
-
Jeff OVERTON
70
72
75
75
79
301
-
John ROLLINS
70
73
75
77
76
301
-
Craig PARRY
70
77
70
77
77
301
-
Nick DOUGHERTY
78
75
71
79
77
302
-
Phillip ARCHER
81
75
74
78
77
304
-
Sean O'HAIR
82
75
73
80
78
306
-
Chih-Bing LAM
83
72
75
83
81
311
-
Azuma YANO
M/C
74
76
-
-
-
M/C
Joshua CUNLIFFE
M/C
79
71
-
-
-
M/C
Peter APPLEYARD
M/C
74
76
-
-
-
M/C
Damien McGRANE
M/C
79
71
-
-
-
M/C
Pelle EDBERG
M/C
76
74
-
-
-
M/C
Richard STERNE
M/C
78
72
-
-
-
M/C
Pat PEREZ
M/C
82
68
-
-
-
M/C
Yoshinobu TSUKADA
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
Aaron BADDELEY
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
Peter BAKER
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
Jon BEVAN
M/C
78
72
-
-
-
M/C
Prayad MARKSAENG
M/C
77
73
-
-
-
M/C
James KINGSTON
M/C
77
73
-
-
-
M/C
Scott McCARRON
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
Soren KJELDSEN
M/C
81
70
-
-
-
M/C
Charles HOWELL III
M/C
76
75
-
-
-
M/C
Hideto TANIHARA
M/C
76
75
-
-
-
M/C
Geoff OGILVY
M/C
77
74
-
-
-
M/C
Ryuji IMADA
M/C
77
74
-
-
-
M/C
Andrew TAMPION
M/C
78
73
-
-
-
M/C
Craig BARLOW
M/C
79
72
-
-
-
M/C
Benjamin HEBERT
M/C
79
73
-
-
-
M/C
Michael LETZIG
M/C
78
74
-
-
-
M/C
Johan EDFORS
M/C
78
74
-
-
-
M/C
Barry HUME
M/C
76
76
-
-
-
M/C
Hunter MAHAN
M/C
80
72
-
-
-
M/C
Simon DYSON
M/C
82
70
-
-
-
M/C
David SMAIL
M/C
76
76
-
-
-
M/C
Niclas FASTH
M/C
79
73
-
-
-
M/C
Paul GOYDOS
M/C
77
75
-
-
-
M/C
Gary BOYD
M/C
77
76
-
-
-
M/C
Tim Clark
M/C
76
77
-
-
-
M/C
Boo WEEKLEY
M/C
80
73
-
-
-
M/C
Angelo QUE
M/C
76
78
-
-
-
M/C
Rory SABBATINI
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Douglas McGUIGAN
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Rod PAMPLING
M/C
77
77
-
-
-
M/C
Jeff QUINNEY
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Angel CABRERA
M/C
77
77
-
-
-
M/C
Ewan PORTER
M/C
76
79
-
-
-
M/C
Rohan BLIZARD
M/C
78
77
-
-
-
M/C
Jamie ELSON
M/C
78
78
-
-
-
M/C
JB HOLMES
M/C
79
77
-
-
-
M/C
Hennie OTTO
M/C
79
77
-
-
-
M/C
Scott STRANGE
M/C
84
72
-
-
-
M/C
Reinier SAXTON
M/C
80
77
-
-
-
M/C
Michio MATSUMURA
M/C
82
76
-
-
-
M/C
Tim PETROVIC
M/C
82
76
-
-
-
M/C
Adam BLYTH
M/C
81
77
-
-
-
M/C
Philip WALTON
M/C
77
82
-
-
-
M/C
Bradley LAMB
M/C
85
74
-
-
-
M/C
Steve WEBSTER
M/C
79
80
-
-
-
M/C
Jerry KELLY
M/C
83
77
-
-
-
M/C
Shintaro KAI
M/C
80
81
-
-
-
M/C
Danny CHIA
M/C
76
87
-
-
-
M/C
Peter FOWLER
M/C
82
82
-
-
-
M/C
Jamie HOWARTH
M/C
85
84
-
-
-
M/C
Rich BEEM
NR
-
-
-
-
-
M/C