Padraig Harrington seals US golf Open

BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania – Padraig Harrington won his first major on the Champions Tour with victory at the US Senior golf Open.

Harrington went from a six-shot lead at the turn to holding off Steve Stricker, and he delivered with a 30-foot birdie putt and three tough lag putts for par to capture his first senior win.

“It´s tough to lead from the front,” Harrington said. “It´s even tougher when it´s Steve Stricker behind you. He tends to have one on me. I´m happy enough to get it done in the end.”

Harrington, who never lost the lead at Saucon Valley, closed with a 1-over 72 and became the third straight US Senior Open champion to win in his debut.

Stricker, who started the final round eight shots behind, began making his run with consecutive birdies to finish the front nine, and he closed with two straight birdies for a 65.

That left him one shot behind, and the Irishman needed only pars to win for the first time on the PGA Tour Champions.

“It was a tough day,” Harrington said. “I said it yesterday, where having a five-shot lead going out there, yeah, if I went out and played great and ran away from the field, I could wave at the crowd and take shots on. If anything, maybe even improve my position. But golf just doesn´t be like that.

“It always, always – how many times do we see it? – comes down to the last couple of holes.”

Harrington had to two-putt from above the ridge on the 16th, and he trickled it down to a foot. He was well below the ridge from about 50 feet away on the par-3 17th and, after running that by 6 feet, calmly rolled in the par putt.

Mark Hensby had a 69 to finish alone in third. Stricker, however, was the only one who had a chance to catch Harrington.

Stricker missed good birdie chances on the 15th and 16th holes, but he stuffed his shot on the 17th to a foot, and then took on a back-right pin at the closing hole to 5 feet away.

Harrington, who led by as many as six shots at one point, began the back nine with consecutive bogeys, and then he missed a good birdie chance on the par-5 12th.

Before Stricker could make his final birdie, Harrington made his 30-footer to be assured of staying in front, and his lag putting was superb when it needed to be.

“I tried to birdie them all coming in,” Stricker said.

Stricker got the best of Harrington without hitting a shot last September at Whistling Straights, when he led a stronger and younger US team to a rout over Harrington’s European squad in the Ryder Cup.