Padraig Harrington has been named Asprey Golfer of the Month for October for which he earns a £1,000 charity donation to The Golf Foundation.
Harrington moved on from Europe’’s victory in The 34th Ryder Cup Matches to win the dunhill links championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns the following week with a 19 under par total of 269.
The 31 year old Irishman, who beat Eduardo Romero at the second extra hole on the Old Course and also won the Team Event with JP McManus, continued his challenge later in the month for the 2002 Volvo Order of Merit title by finishing tied seventh and tied sixth in the Telefonica Open de Madrid and 59th Italian Open Telecom Italia respectively.
Harrington said: “I am naturally delighted to be named Asprey Golfer of the Month ahead of so many deserving candidates and honoured that the panel voted for me. It has been an exciting time and, as I said when winning St Andrews, the two weeks at The Ryder Cup and the dunhill links championship have been the best two weeks, back-to-back, of my career to date.
“It was an extraordinary week at the dunhill links championship in that I only had nine holes of practice following the drama of The Ryder Cup and I decided just to try to enjoy myself. Fortunately I was mentally strong all week and in the play-off against Eduardo. Not only that, but winning the Team Event with JP rounded off a wonderful fortnight.”
The Asprey Panel discussed a distinguished list of contenders which included Alex Cejka (Trophée Lancôme), Ernie Els (Cisco World Match Play Championship), Steen Tinning (Telefonica Open de Madrid) and Ian Poulter (59th Italian Open Telecom Italia), all winners on The 2002 European Tour International Schedule, and Vijay Singh, who won the US Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Edward Asprey, New Business Director of Asprey, the ultimate authentic British luxury lifestyle house, said: “Padraig’’s performance on the back of his superb play in The Ryder Cup was an inspiration to all and he sets a wonderful example not only with his outstanding golf but also his dedication to the game. This was another outstanding month on The European Tour International Schedule and the Panel also discussed the many superb performances by European Tour Members in addition to recognising the progress made by Luke Donald in winning for the first time on the US Tour with his success in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.”
Other winners of the Asprey Golfer of the Month Awards this year have been Justin Rose (January and May), José Maria Olazábal (February), Ernie Els (March and July), Retief Goosen (April), Miles Tunnicliff (June), Graeme McDowell (August) and Sam Torrance (September).
The Asprey Golfer of the Month Award is presented to a European Tour Member each month from January to November for his performance on The European Tour International Schedule and in world wide competition.
