Padraig Harrington coasted to a third successive Irish PGA Championship title on Saturday in what he hopes proves a lucky omen yet again.
For the past two years the Dubliner has followed up victory at the European Club with winning The Open Championship, but the big difference this time is that he has missed his last five cuts on The European Tour and the US PGA Tour.
But having trailed by one shot after the first round in Ireland, Harrington took over at the top with a second round 70 and finished seven shots ahead of former British Amateur Champion Brian McElhinney.
Not only did an Open victory follow Harrington’s last two Irish PGA triumphs, they were won by the same margin. In 2007 the 37 year old beat Brendan McGovern in a play-off and then repeated the feat days later, seeing off Sergio Garcia. A year later he won at the European Club by four shots, then prevailed by the same score at Royal Birkdale the following week.
Harrington was realistic about his chances of claiming a hat-trick of successive Open victories, however, saying: "The history of three in a row, it would be very special for it to happen, but I am realistic about these things and am looking at it in an overall context.
"I want to compete in many Majors going forward ... the idea that it has to be the next one is not how I go about things. If I compete in the next five Opens I'll try to win two of them, it doesn't have to be this year. I'd rather win two over five years than one this year for the three [in a row].
"I've got a number of Open chances, probably another ten where I'll be competitive, and I'll concentrate on winning as many of those as I can rather than trying to win the next one."
