On the Paddy Wagon

Padraig Harrington is your 2008 champion golfer of the year - the winner of the Open Championship.

Final Leaders
Padraig Harrington, 74-68-72-65--279
Ian Poulter, 72-71-75-69--287
Greg Norman, 70-70-72-72--284
Henrik Stenson, 76-72-70-71--289
Jim Furyk, 71-71-77-71--290
Chris Wood, 75-70-73-72--290
Full Scores

This tournament will be remembered for the brutal weather conditions. And for Greg Norman's tale, a tale that will surely be spun as another failure in a long line of failures for Norman.

That's a shame. This performance was totally unexpected, a great surprise, and being in the mix at a British Open at age 53 when you've barely played in five years - well, that's a remarkable story, and should be one full of joy for Norman. I hope he can find that. It would have been so much better for Norman to have started the day two strokes behind rather than two ahead ...

And Harrington? Two wins total in majors is a very good thing. Two wins in a row in majors is a great thing. The names of the back-to-back champs at the British Open are names like Woods, Watson, Trevino, Hagen, Jones. The all-time greats.

No, Harrington isn't an all-time great, but, then, he still has time. Slow and steady wins the race, they say, and Paddy is nothing if not slow and steady. My guess is this win all but guarantees his spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame some day; the International voters will give him the nod with two majors, combined with (as of now) 13 European Tour wins and five PGA Tour wins (including his two British Opens). Harrington's record will certainly compare favorably with - or surpass that - of Bernhard Langer's by the end of his career.

Oh, and Paddy: Don't forget to sign your scorecard.