Now chasing a third consecutive victory, Harrington won the 2008 Open Championship by four strokes after effectively sealing the result with a magnificent eagle at the 17th hole. Later in the same season he won the US PGA Championship, the first European to do so in 78 years. In 2007 he beat Sergio Garcia in a gripping four-hole play-off at Carnoustie to become the first player from Ireland to win The Open since Fred Daly 60 years earlier. It crowned a year in which he also won the Irish Open, the Irish PGA and the Hassan II Trophy in Morocco, and had six top-10 finishes before being named as the only Irishman to become European Tour Player of the Year. He was winner of the European Tour Order of Merit in 2006 and has twice finished second and three times in third place. He took a degree in accountancy before joining the pro tour.
