Major Moments

Padraig Harrington

Wilson Staff 5-wood (18°)

2008

"Beware the injured golfer," numerous commentators like to say. In other words, when a player’s expectations are low, he often plays his best. The saying was never more true than at a blustery Royal Birkdale in 2008.

Defending champ Padraig Harrington showed up with a wrist so sore that he nearly withdrew from the tournament. In fact, on Wednesday he managed to hit just three shots. Still, despite the injury, he soldiered on and, after three rounds, found himself just two shots behind the most unlikely of leaders, 53-year-old Greg Norman.

On Sunday, the Shark held a one-shot lead heading into the back nine, but his hopes sank after he bogeyed three of the next four holes. Meanwhile Harrington, who bogeyed holes seven through nine turned it around on the back, birdieing 13 and 15. Playing with confidence and wanting to go even lower, the Irishman stood 272 yards out on the par five 17th hole. He chose his Wilson Staff 18° 5-wood and struck the ball perfectly. It landed about fifty yards short, took an enormous bounce and rolled to within four feet of the cup. His eagle three secured his victory, making him the first European since James Braid in 1906 to win the Open in consecutive years.

Harrington captured the US PGA Championship the next month, his third major victory in five starts. Since then the Irishman hasn’t had much luck. With only one victory (the 2010 Iskandar Johor Open) since the 2008 Open, he’s slipped to 73rd in the world.

Snake Bit: The Carnoustie Collapse

Sometimes collapses are more memorable than triumphs. Adam Scott’s four bogey finish last year (his perfect swing and Titleist 710 MB irons couldn’t help him find the green), Doug Sanders’ botched 30-incher (pushed badly with a flange putter) at the 1970 Open and, of course, Ian Woosnam’s two-stroke penalty for carrying an extra club (an oversized Mizuno driver that he tossed into the bushes) in 2001.

But nothing lingers longer in the memory than HK Golfer’s Playing Editor Jean Van de Velde’s final-hole capitulation in 1999 at Carnoustie. Needing a double bogey to win, Jean used his King Cobra II irons and a Cleveland 588 wedge to rather lose his way on the 18th. After an errant, but safe drive he blasted an iron shot into the grandstands. The ball ricocheted into long rough and from there Jean gouged his next shot into the water. After removing his shoes and wading into the burn where he contemplated a watery escape, he regained his composure, dropped the ball and hit into a greenside bunker. He ended up making a triple bogey (after holing a nerve-wracking seven-footer with his Never Compromise putter) but ended up losing out to Paul Lawrie in a play-off.