The first European to win the US PGA in 78 years; the first European ever to win back-to-back majors. Harrington's achievements over the past two months are epic.
What a shame there isn‘t another major trophy for Harrington to claim in September. The Irishman will just have to content himself by succeeding Colin Montgomerie as European talisman in the Ryder Cup. After his unbelievable final-stretch performances at Birkdale and Oakland Hills, Harrington is the man to lead the European defence at Valhalla (but I bet he's not paired with Sergio Garcia).
What makes Harrington's recent success even sweeter is that it simply could not have happened to a better bloke. Harrington has never been anything other than honest, down to Earth and plain likeable.
It will be impossible to accurately quantify the impact Harrington's success will have on the European golf industry, but he is an inspiration to the current generation of golfers. He has shown that sometimes nice guys do win and that the hard graft can pay dividends.
Harrington's success will increase the number of rounds played and attract new people to the game, and more rounds played means more pro shop footfall and more golf-related Christmas gifts.
Incidentally, Harrington's contract with Wilson is up for renewal at the end of this year. He has been a Wilson Staff player since 1998 but the premium on his name will have gone up a bit since then, and that's after what must have been hefty win bonuses Wilson have paid Harrington three times in just over a year. Rick Hazeldon, Wilson's marketing manager, tells SGB Golf the company "looks forward to Padraig continuing to be a Wilson Staff player going into 2009", and he says there has been "tangible sales growth" after Harrington's major triumphs, but some big sharks will be circling for his signature right now, and it will be fascinating to see who gets European golf's great catch.
Robin Barwick
