Harrington in line for €25 million windfall

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON is set for a potential €25m windfall after his victory in the Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Before his greatest triumph, he had won €23m worldwide, approximately €16.5m in Europe and the remainder in the US and Asia, from his playing activities alone.

He may have doubled that amount from his wide range of contracts but now that he is a major champion, Harrington’s earning power will soar dramatically.

His prize money on Sunday amounted to €1.1m and pushed him past Darren Clarke in career earnings on the European Tour and into fourth place.

Along with moving up to sixth in the world rankings and leading the European Tour order of merit, he has jumped from 79th to 19th in the FedEx Cup rankings, the new series of tournaments in America culminating in the ten million dollar Tour Championship in mid-September.

His manager, Adrian Mitchell of International Marketing Group (IMG), will sit down with Harrington later in the week to discuss how best they can capitalise on his Open win. Mitchell also managed Paul Lawrie when he captured the Open at Carnoustie in 1999. The British media at the time estimated that Lawrie was richer by £10m (€15m) as a result but, of course, time has moved on and with Harrington’s vast popularity here in Europe and also in the United States, he should be better off to the tune of around €25 million.

“He already has high profile in marketability and we are very selective in his sponsors,” said Mitchell.

“He is one of the most popular players in the States, especially on the east coast. You’d have to guess his win will also have registered with sports enthusiasts who aren’t just golf fans, who didn’t necessarily know of him until Sunday.

“It’s been non stop calls since he holed the winning putt. They’ve been coming in since 6.30am this morning.”

New blue chip sponsors are already being lined up by Mitchell to complement his current financial supporters Wilson Sports, Titleist, Bank of Ireland, Kartel, Hi-Tec, computer company U4ea, Marlbrook estate and the White Oak Plantation Golf Club in North Carolina.

Bonus clauses are included in most of these contracts.