ENDICOTT, NY — Padraig Harrington played his last seven holes at 7 under par, a stunning 9-under 63 finish to successfully defend his title at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open with a one-shot win on Sunday.
Harrington wasn’t going anywhere at En-Joie Golf Club with a pair of bogey three-courses and another triple. But he put in a gritty save in the 11th that sent the Irishman on his way to his first PGA Tour Champions title this year.
Harrington birdied the next four holes, made the eagle on the par-4 accessible 16th, followed with a 6-foot birdie on the 17th, then finished with par to block Joe Durant (66).
Durant finished with a straight six. Ernie Els needed a birdie on the final hole to force a playoff. Instead, he made a bogey 68 to finish alone in third place.
Harrington became the first back-to-back winners since the tournament became part of the PGA Tour Champions schedule in 2007. Brad Faxon won back-to-back in 1999 and 2000 when the BC Open was on the PGA Tour.
Next up for Harrington is hoping for another repeat – defending his title next week at the US Open Grand Slam at SentryWorld in Wisconsin.
Harrington’s key was going up and down from 30 yards into a bunker in the 11th, making an 8-foot salient.
“It went from feeling like everything was against you to, ‘Oh, that’s not so bad.'” “Obviously I wasn’t thinking about winning at that point. I was thinking about just trying to make as many birdies as possible,” Harrington said. “When I started making them, yeah, I started thinking about it when I got three or four of them. But obviously it was a bonus, to make the Eagle.”
Harrington hit 3 woods on 293 yards from 16-15 feet to catch Durant’s eagle, and a jumper on the 17th gave him the lead for good.
Els also drove the 16th green using 3 woods, but was about 50 feet from the hole. The eagle throw rolled in front of the cup. He made the next birdie for his only birdie on the back nine.