McGinley pays tribute to Harrington’s success
Before Harrington’s memorable play-off victory over Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia on Sunday, 31 majors had been played without a European winner – a streak going all the way back to Paul Lawrie’s win on the same Carnoustie course in 1999.
There had been several near-misses of course. Harrington himself missed the four-man play-off – which did feature France’s Thomas Levet – at Muirfield in 2002 by a shot after a bogey on the 72nd hole, while Thomas Bjorn blew the 2003 Open at Sandwich by dropping four shots in three holes late in the final round.
