With U.S. Senior Open on deck, Harrington wins

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Padraig Harrington performed his last seven holes in 7 beneath par, a shocking end for a 9-under 63 to efficiently defend his title within the Dick’s Sporting Items Open with a 1-shot victory on Sunday.

Harrington was going nowhere on the En-Joie Golf Membership with a pair of three-putt bogeys and one other three-putt par. However he made a daring par save on the eleventh that despatched the Irish participant on his approach to his first PGA Tour Champions title this yr.

Harrington birdied the subsequent 4 holes, made eagle on the reachable par-4 sixteenth, adopted with a 6-foot birdie on the seventeenth after which completed with a par to carry off Joe Durant (66).

Durant completed with six straight pars. Ernie Els wanted a birdie on the ultimate gap to power a playoff. As a substitute, he made bogey for a 68 to complete alone in third.

Harrington turned the primary back-to-back winner because the match turned a part of the PGA Tour Champions schedule in 2007. Brad Faxon gained back-to-back in 1999 and 2000 when it was the B.C. Open on the PGA Tour.

Subsequent up for Harrington are hopes for an additional repeat — he defends his title subsequent week within the U.S. Senior Open at SentryWorld in Wisconsin.

The important thing for Harrington was getting up and down from 30 yards away in a bunker on the eleventh, making an 8-foot par putt.

“It went from feeling like the whole lot was going towards you to, ‘Oh, that is not so dangerous.’ Clearly, I wasn’t fascinated by profitable at that stage. I used to be fascinated by simply making an attempt to make as many birdies,” Harrington stated. “Once I began making them, yeah, then I began fascinated by it after I received three or 4 of them. However it was a bonus, clearly, to make eagle.”

Harrington hit 3-wood on the 293-yard sixteenth to about 15 toes for an eagle to catch Durant, and the birdie on the seventeenth gave him the lead for good.

Els additionally drove the sixteenth inexperienced with a 3-wood, however he was virtually 50 toes proper of the opening. His eagle putt rolled simply previous the cup. He made the subsequent for his solely birdie on the again 9.