Padraig Harrington won his second straight major championship Sunday. He ripped the victory right out of Sergio Garcia’s grasp with three clutch putts on the final three holes. Beginning early this morning to complete a third round washed out by rain, Mr. Harrington was four over par when he began on the 10th hole. 

Four birdies in a row and he was right in the mix, finishing with a 66 for his third round.  He began the final round in the penultimate group with Mr. Garcia and Charlie Wi, who was playing in his first major.   Mr. Garcia would start the final round birdie, eagle and hold a three shot lead over Mr. Harrington going into the final nine holes.  Once again, Mr. Harrington birdied four holes on the back nine, going out in 32, for a two shot victory.  I was completely amazed at the focus he was able to conjure.  Eyes wide open, tongue stuck in the corner of his mouth, teeth thrust forward.  And he never blinked.  Seriously I don’t think he blinked from the time he focused on the beginning of a shot until after the ball had come to rest.  I found it disturbing and uncomfortable to watch, as I kept thinking how dry his eyes must be getting.  I don’t mean a deer in the headlights kind of stare, rather a look of complete total control over oneself. 

The back nine was one of the most compelling golf tournaments I watched in quite some time.  Mr. Garcia, Mr. Harrington, and third round leader Ben Curtis trading ups and downs until the final four holes.  Beginning at the 15th hole the play of the leaders became riveting.  Mr Garcia holed his six iron from about 170 yds. but the ball jumped out of the cup and finished 10 feet from the pin.  He missed this putt but he did make a good stroke.  On the 16th hole Mr. Garcia hit his second shot into the water right of the green.  In response, Mr. Harrington pulled his second shot into the left hand bunker a long way from the hole.  Hitting from the drop zone, Mr. Garcia pitched to within 4 feet for his first bogey of the round, while Mr. Harrington had 12 feet for par with at least 2 feet of break.  He made that putt right in the center of the hole, then on the 17th hit a 5 iron to 8 feet and rolled that in for his fourth birdie on the back nine.  Mr. Garcia answered with a 5 iron of his own to 4 feet and lipped out the putt to fall one behind.  The 18th hole saw both men hit tee shots right, Mr. Harrington into the bunker under the lip, and Mr Garcia into the rough right of the sand.  Mr. Garcia hit his second shot into the bunker short of the green, while Mr. Harrington hit his shot fat and didn’t even make it to the fairway. Catching a reasonably good lie in the rough his third shot was 18 feet from the hole.  Mr. Garcia blasted to about 10 feet.  Once again Mr. Harrington made that putt, leaving only Mr. Curtis with an opportunity to tie, and for that he needed to hole out his second shot on the 18th hole.  Mr. Garcia missed his putt after the matter was settled.

“I obviously came up a little bit short,” Garcia said. “But I guess that’s the way things go sometimes. The only thing I can do is go back home with my head up high and keep working on it.”  One consolation is that he qualified for the Ryder Cup team, an event were he makes every putt in sight. 

Mr. Curtis came up just short in his bid for a second major, however his showing was good enough to get him on the Ryder Cup team.  “It’s almost a victory in itself,” Curtis said. 

What did Charlie Wi think about playing in the group with Mr. Garcia and Mr. Harrington? “I turned to my caddie on 16 and said, ‘God, this is a lot of fun just to watch,”’ said Wi, who shot 74 and tied for ninth. I whole heartedly agree sir.

So Mr. Harrington has won 2 major championships in a row and 3 of the last 6 events played, positioning himself for a place in history.  He’s showed he can play and play well when the pressure is on, and he doesn’t even need to blink in the process.  Even if his focused look reminds me of a crazed amphetamine user cleaning his stove at 3 AM using only a toothbrush.  That guy didn’t blind either.