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The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Inside Padraig Harrington's HUGE 2025 ISPS Handa Senior Open Championship payout as golf legend bags another major
PADRAIG HARRINGTON stormed to a stunning Senior Open win at Sunningdale. The 2 Padraig Harrington was presented with the Senior Claret Jug by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny 2 Pádraig Harrington of Ireland poses with the trophy after the fourth round of the ISPS HANDA Senior Open 2025 at Sunningdale Golf Club Harrington got off to a dream start with an eagle at the first, followed by birdies at six, nine and 14. His only blemish came with bogeys at eight and 17, but he held his nerve - even after finding a tough lie in a bunker late on. Leonard failed to convert a par putt on 17, giving the now three-time senior major winner Harrington breathing space before sealing it with a calm par up the last alongside long-time caddie Ronan Flood. read more on golf The 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee now adds the Senior Open crown to the US Senior Open title he lifted in Colorado last month. Sunday's €2.6m purse saw Harrington collect €410k, although that's still short of the €730k he banked for his US Senior Open triumph in June. Hilarious moment Donald Trump's golf caddie appears to subtly drop ball in prime spot before he arrives to take shot 2025 Senior Open Total Payout Position Prize Money 1st $447,800 2nd $298,680 3rd $168,036 4th $134,292 5th $113,772 6th $93,936 7th $80,484 8th $67,032 9th $60,192 10th $53,694 11th $49,362 12th $45,942 13th $42,978 14th $41,154 15th $39,444 16th $37,620 17th $25,910 18th $34,542 19th $33,402 20th $32,490 21st $31,578 22nd $30,666 23rd $29,754 24th $28,842 25th $27,930 26th $27,018 27th $26,106 28th $25,194 29th $24,396 30th $23,598 31st $22,800 32nd $22,002 33rd $21,318 34th $20,634 35th $20,064 36th $19,494 37th $18,924 38th $18,354 39th $17,898 40th $17,328 41st $16,872 42nd $16,302 43rd $15,846 44th $15,276 45th $14,820 46th $14,364 47th $13,794 48th $13,338 49th $12,768 50th $12,312 51st $11,742 52nd $11,286 53rd $10,716 54th $10,260 55th $9,690 56th $9,234 57th $8,778 58th $8,436 59th $7,980 60th $7,638 61st $7,296 62nd $6,954 63rd $6,726 64th $6,384 65th $6,156 66th $5,814 67th $5,586 68th $5,358 69th $5,130 70th $4,901 71st $4,674 72nd $4,446 73rd $4,218 74th $3,990
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Padraig Harrington seals another major after storming to ISPS HANDA Senior Open Championship glory
PADRAIG HARRINGTON stormed to a sensational Senior Open victory on Sunday - landing his second senior major title of the season in style. 2 Padraig Harrington won his second senior major of the year at Sunningdale 2 Padraig Harrington saw off Justin Leonard and Thomas Bjorn to add more trophies to his huge cabinet He got off to a flyer with a stunning eagle at the first, before picking up birdies at six and nine to keep the momentum going. The Dubliner's only blemish on the front nine came at the eighth, where he dropped a shot with a bogey. But the Stackstown golf legend hit back in style to see out his second senior major title of the year after his win at the US Open in Colorado last month. He then carded another birdie at the 14th to stretch his lead to three shots over Justin Leonard, holding firm as the pressure mounted from the American. read more on golf And the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee then held his nerve as after a bogey on 17, prior to finding a tough lie in the bunker on his approach. But the chasing Leonard couldn't make a par putt as Harrington maintained the three-shot lead heading up the last with caddie Ronan Flood. 53-year-old Harrington negotiated the last with a par to finish on -3 for his final round for a sixteen under par total as he lapped up the applause from a huge crowd in Berkshire. He finished three-strokes ahead of Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard, who signed-off for a total of -13 at Sunningdale. Most read in Golf It's was his third senior major after wins at the 2022 and He joins Darren Clarke and Christy O'Connor Jr as the only men from the Emerald Isle to win the Senior Golfer Lottie Woad wins her FIRST ever event as a professional after missing out on nearly £500,000 in prize money There was an overall purse of $2.85m on offer- - and a first prize of $447,800 for Harrington.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
The next World Golf Hall of Fame induction will be held at the home of golf
After a dozen years, the induction ceremony for the World Golf Hall of Fame is returning to the home of golf. Per a release from Hall officials on Thursday, the next ceremony will be held in St. Andrews, Scotland, during the week of the 2027 version of the Open Championship. 'There is no better connection to golf's rich history and the origins of the game than at St Andrews,' Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame, said in the release. 'We are thrilled to celebrate the next class of golf's greatest figures at the home of golf and are grateful for the collaboration with our partners at The R&A.' After the trip across the pond, the ceremony will return to Pinehurst, N.C., in June 2029 stretch that will see the U.S. Women's Open and the U.S. Open played at famed No. 2. "It is an honour to once again host the World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony during the week of The Open at St. Andrews,' said Mark Darbon, chief executive of The R&A. 'It is entirely fitting that the next class of inductees will be celebrated here at the home of golf, and we look forward to welcoming current World Golf Hall of Fame members and our partners from across the sport.' The last ceremony was held in Pinehurst during the 2024 U.S. Open, with three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, two-time major champion Sandra Palmer, 1973 Open champion Tom Weiskopf, three-time major champion Beverly Hanson, 1928 U.S. Open champion Johnny Farrell, as well as the 13 LPGA Founders, all inducted. The Hall, which was previously a fixture in St. Augustine, Florida, from 1998 to 2023, is now just a short walk from the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2 – where Payne Stewart, Martin Kaymer, Michelle Wie West, and Bryson DeChambeau won U.S. Open championships. Set among the North Carolina pines, the World Golf Hall of Fame houses an unparalleled collection of golf memorabilia and artifacts. If you want to learn about the history of the game or the men and women who have played the biggest roles in its growth over the past two centuries, this is the place to visit. Warm wooden floors and soft lighting give the space a clean, modern aesthetic without feeling pretentious. Visitors to Pinehurst for golf can easily spend 45 minutes or an hour exploring the Hall while staying immersed in the game. From the release: Since 2024, the Hall of Fame has been managed by the USGA and is housed at Golf House Pinehurst in North Carolina. The updated Induction Ceremony cadence moving to odd years underscores the USGA's deepening commitment to Pinehurst as an anchor site and permanent home, with four future Induction Ceremonies (2029, 2035, 2041, 2047) aligning with U.S. Open Championships contested at Pinehurst No. 2. There are three categories through which an individual may be eligible for induction: Male Competitor, Female Competitor and Contributor. To be eligible, a player must be at least 45 years old during the year of an Induction Ceremony or retired from competitive golf for at least three years. To be considered for selection in the Contributor category, an individual must have impacted the game significantly in areas outside of the competitive arena. Each new class of inductees is selected after a vetting process by committees made up of World Golf Hall of Fame Members, the golf media and golf industry representatives.
USA Today
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Paul Azinger named recipient of PGA Tour's 2025 Payne Stewart Award
Paul Azinger has another honor to add to his resume. The PGA Tour announced Monday it was honoring Azinger with the Payne Stewart Award in recognition of his character, sportsmanship and commitment to charitable giving. The Payne Stewart Award is presented annually by the PGA Tour to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart's steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship. Stewart, an 11-time PGA Tour winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member, died tragically 26 years ago during the week of the Tour Championship. 'To be named the recipient of this award, representing my dearest friend, is one of the proudest moments in my life,' Azinger said in a release. 'Payne displayed the ultimate character, sportsmanship and service to others throughout his career. He set the standard for how to represent the game of golf, so to be recognized for this award is truly humbling.' Azinger is a native of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and has 12 Tour titles to his credit, including his most memorable win at the 1993 PGA Championship. 'We are pleased to add Paul Azinger's name to the long and illustrious list of those who have received the Payne Stewart Award presented by Southern Company,' said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. 'If there is one person who knows all the positive traits that exemplified Payne Stewart, it's his close friend, Paul. His values align with the character and charitable pursuits that Payne displayed throughout his career, and it's only fitting that Paul be honored with this year's award.' The Tour will honor Azinger on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony in conjunction with the Tour Championship. Golf Channel will televise the ceremony as part of a 'Golf Central' special from 7-8 p.m. EDT at the Southern Exchange in downtown Atlanta. In addition to a sculpture by Bob Pack presented to the recipient, the Payne Stewart Award is accompanied by an annual Payne Stewart Award grant made possible by Southern Company. The $500,000 grant supports several initiatives in Stewart's name and is distributed as follows: $100,000 to Payne and Tracey Stewart's primary charity, The Stewart Family Foundation; $100,000 in Stewart's honor to Payne Stewart Memorial, located in Missouri at Kids Across America, which is affiliated with Kanakuk Kamps; and $300,000 to a charity designated by the recipient. Azinger is directing funds to the Paul and Toni Azinger Charitable Fund, which will be used to continue the work at the Azinger Family Compassion Center. Opened in 2021 on the campus of One More Child, the 12,000-square-foot facility which aims to serve vulnerable and struggling families within Manatee County, Florida. Over the past year, the Azinger Family Compassion Center for One More Child has distributed nearly $19 million worth of food, clothing, household items and other needed supplies, and supported more than 190 nonprofit partners from the surrounding area. "Paul Azinger is a tremendous selection to be the next recipient of the Payne Stewart Award. Paul is a champion and leader who personifies what it means to be a Payne Stewart Award recipient, purposefully embodying Payne's values of character, charity and sportsmanship,' Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, said in a release. 'Paul and Toni are deeply committed to serving their community and continue to do remarkable philanthropic work supporting kids and families in their time of need.'
USA Today
20-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Colin Montgomerie on nearly becoming an agent, escaping his first American college and more
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The 153rd British Open attracted some 280,000 fans to Royal Portrush Golf Club, where the breezes off the Atlantic Ocean were cooling and calming for most of the Championship. You never know who you will see at the majors. World Golf Hall of Fame member Colin Montgomerie, who played in the Open 22 times and finished second in 2005, was waving the flag for whiskey maker Loch Lomond, the official spirit of the Open Championship. "We produce a special Open edition," Montgomerie explained. "I think the tagline, 'the Spirit of the Open,' is great, and the relationship has grown and grown. Whiskey and golf are Scotland's two great exports, really. We got the home of golf, and with the home of whiskey and they were very proud of both of those exports to the world and nice for me to be associated with both of them, really, golf and whisky." The now 62-year-old Scot, an eight-time Order of Merit champion on the DP World Tour, was kind enough to take some time to answer a wide array of questions from Golfweek. GWK: What is your favorite links course? CM: The best links course in Britain is Turnberry. By, I think, a wide margin and it's such a shame that the Open isn't there, you know, it's difficult. But it's been redone and redone, and now it's seventh and eighth holes have changed again, and it's fantastic. GWK: Do you have a favorite Open championship venue? CM: Has to be St. Andrews. I'm not talking at all about the golf course. I'm talking about the town, the university, the whole field, the whole sense of occasion, the romance of it, the romance of St Andrews is very special. It's knowing that everyone's done it and everyone will do it after you. It's a very special occasion. It's amazing how these guys back in 1800 and something designed something that still is being played to this day, when the game is so different than what it was. GWK: I was telling a friend back in the States that I was going to be chatting with you, and he wanted me to ask you what prompted you to leave New Mexico Military Institute and go to Houston Baptist University? CM: It was less than 10 days. It was a good 48 hours. Unfortunately, it was more military than I was expecting. My roommate managed to get me out to the local Greyhound station in Roswell, New Mexico. The Greyhound bus took me up to Albuquerque about 200 miles through the night and my father said get the first flight to a major American city. There were four flights that morning. There was San Francisco, L.A., Houston or Dallas, and the first flight was Houston. So, I picked it. I land in Houston, and a long story short, it was through a member of my golf club in West Yorkshire, the vicar, actually. He worked with Alan Shepard, the astronaut, and all the people who used to come over from NASA in Houston to train with our Royal Air Force. A friend of a friend of a friend made a call and suddenly Houston Baptist University sprung up because Alan Shepard knew the athletic director, a guy called Ed Billings, lovely fella, and of course, he knew the golf coach there, and the golf coach came to the hotel I was staying at, the Doubletree Inn in Houston. I was a walk-on for the first year, so I didn't get a scholarship as such; I had to earn my right, which I did, and then the next three years I was on the team, you know, with the scholarship. So it was a bizarre story but it wasn't as easy then as it is now for foreign students to be recruited. In my day, back in the very early 80s, you were on your own, so it was difficult. So that's how that worked. GWK: Tell me about the time period where you considered attempting to be an agent rather than a professional golfer? CM: I was finishing my degree at Houston Baptist University. It's now Houston Christian University. I graduated in May '87. So it was a year before I graduated, and I wanted to explore what I wanted to do for a career. And the Open was at Turnberry in '86. I'd asked IMG for an interview to try and be an agent to use my degree, which was a marketing degree, and market the likes of Nick Price, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Corey Pavin, Ray Floyd. I think the big three was still in operation, and all IMG clients. And so I thought this was great, and I would work in the Texas area and try and get deals and to try and become an agent. So, two executives, one, Ian Todd, who was the president of IMG, and Peter German, who's still working for IMG, I believe he's in his 80s now, asked me to join them for the back nine at Turnberry. This is the Monday after the Open finished, so the pins are in the same positions, you know how it goes. I drove my mom's car, I'll never forget, out to the lighthouse at Turnberry and played the back nine in with them. I treated it like a job interview so I watched my Ps and Q's. You say yes or no, sir. You know, a job interview, right? And I wasn't interested in the golf. We were just playing nine holes. Anyway, started at the 10th and made birdie and I think I chipped in at 11, and then I sort of hole a bunker shot at 13 and long story short, I hole a good putt at the last for a three and came back in 29. 6-under par! And they looked at each other on the green, and we all shook hands and I was expecting to be told, 'Well, we'll be in touch' sort of thing, you know? And they said, "Well, Colin, you're not going to work for us. We're going to work for you." And that was it. And this is why that nine holes is the reason I'm speaking to you now. I come from a very sort of conservative background, which amateur golf was the key. The Walker Cup was more important than the Ryder Cup. I gave pro golf two years and let's see how it goes. I got my card and then I joined IMG immediately afterwards, and they've looked after me and here we are ever since, I'm still with them. So, we all have that two hours in our life or right time, right place, in your life, or whatever — you might meet your partner — this was my time for life to change. GWK: What made you such a great Ryder Cup player? CM: I was born with great ambition, right? As we all are, I suppose, you know, we're ambitious to succeed in everything. The truth is I hated to lose much more than I liked to win. Winning was winning, it was OK, but like Scottie Scheffler has been saying recently about winning, it's OK, but what's next, you know? And that was me. I won the odd event, but what was next? So I didn't really celebrate the wins, but I hated the losses. So, I suppose that drove me at the Ryder Cup. I also putted very well in the Ryder Cup. A good match player is a good putter, right? And I always was at the Ryder Cup, I always hit the ball a foot harder on the greens. Now I'm going to give a tip to anyone that might be reading this: If you hit the ball a foot harder on the greens, it's amazing how many go in. And I had that freedom in the Ryder Cup because it was match play. If it didn't work, I lost the hole. But in stroke playing, if I had three putted, it was a bogey and it was, oh God, the next hole got to get this back, it was more of an issue. GWK: Why do you think the Europeans do better in the Ryder Cup? CM: That's a question that everybody would love to answer, and I suppose the Americans would love to answer, too, because they would do it, you know, more. I mean, our success is beyond our world rankings. We shouldn't have had the success we had. We go into the Ryder Cup always as underdogs on the basis of world ranking points. And yet we've won more than we've lost over the last 15-20 Ryder Cups. And why? I think we've got this good mentality where we're playing for each other. We sort of played as a team, you know? When I was captain in 2010, I always felt it was great that everyone on my team contributed at least half a point to the victory, and that was good for them. They contributed, so they felt that they had helped their teammates, and their teammates had helped them. And I think that's the main thing, I think we really had this this family feel. Financially, it was very important for us to win. The might of the American tour could cope with the odd Ryder Cup loss but the European Tour was struggling financially. So it was important that we could do as well as we did. I think it was that team ethos, whereby we played for each other. We came together, we left our egos at the door, hit them up on the way out, that type of feel. GWK: What's your theory on why Phil and Tiger had pedestrian records in the Ryder Cup? CM: Well, Tiger's single record was very good because he's on his own. But it was always difficult to partner him. Back in 1993, when Nick Faldo was No. 1 in the world, we were partners and his ball was stamped Faldo on the side and it was his ball, of course. I think the same happened with America. I think Tiger wasn't changing his golf ball. You played Tiger's ball. And it said, Tiger on it. And you start thinking, hang on, I better not lose this, better not put this in a bush. I think a lot of the people playing with Tiger, I think they probably froze or didn't play to their ability or didn't play to their potential. I found that difficult with Nick, where it was his ball. And I felt like an understudy. Oh, I was an understudy. I was almost a rookie. So it's difficult for that. And I think that was a reason. And playing with Phil must have had that feeling as well, and it was difficult to find a partner for them both that would cope with the pressure because you go out with Tiger, you're expected to win. He's the best. And it's sometimes difficult if you're expected to win, it's the hardest thing to do. Expectation is the hardest thing to do in sport to win. GWK: What's the hero shot that you think back on where you pulled it off to win a tournament and had that incredible feeling of, yes, I did it? CM: I've got one plaque in the world. It's in the Middle East, it's in Dubai at the Emirates Club. In 1996, I was leading by one on the last hole against Miguel Angel Jimenez, and at the time I had a 6-iron in my hand to lay up short of the lake guarding the green. It was into the wind, and of course, 1996, the balls and the clubs weren't going quite as far as they do now. My caddie, Alistair McLean, wanted me to lay up, and then I'd still have a chance to make birdie. I asked him, 'So, how far is it?' He told me 223 and that I'm not going to make it with a 3-wood, I'd have to use a driver. I said, 'Christ, hang on.' I put my driver behind the ball and had a look at it, it looked OK. I could do it, you know? And, so he said, "Right, we'll go for it." And it was a terrible risk because it could have gone horribly wrong. It just happened to come out of the middle of the bat. Luckily, it was high and it stopped within 8 feet of the hole hitting driver off the deck. They put a plaque there for me. Canon, the camera-maker, used to sponsor our shot of the year and it won for 1996. So I was proud of that. GWK: Opposite end of the spectrum, what were you thinking at the last hole at Winged Foot in the 2006 U.S. Open when you made double bogey to lose? CM: It was just it was just one of those things. I'm convinced that that shot, if I played it in real time I'd have won the U.S. Open. I had to wait for my playing partner, Vijay Singh, who had hit it left of left into two hospitality tents and needed a drop. Anyway, long story short, it took nine minutes, I was told, it felt an hour, but it took nine minutes to play his second shot. Meanwhile, yours truly is on the fairway wanting to play. It was a 7-iron, then it was a 6-iron, then it was a 7-iron. It was almost impossible for nine minutes to be positive all that time. And I just unfortunately caught it slightly heavy and put it in position Z, right bunker in front of the green, and it was an awful place. And yes, if there was one shot I'd love back, it was that one, but at the same time you've got to play 72 holes and not just 71 of them, I'm afraid. Nowadays, I think I would have just gone up and actually hit it. There's no penalty for hitting when you feel it's appropriate to do so, there's no penalty for it. You're just trying to play by the etiquette of the game that it's his shot first. But actually, I wish I could go back and just walk up to my ball and hit 7-iron below the hole. It was almost too easy. The pin was on the right-hand side, I faded the ball, so, it was almost easier to birdie the hole than it was to make a six, you know? But there you go. GWK: Why were you considered by the media to be one of the best interviews in golf on Tuesday and Wednesday but tough to deal with after the bell rang? CM: I was just in my job, I suppose. If I have a regret, I would love to go back and be less impatient. I wanted it too much, I wanted success for me, for my family, and I wanted to progress in life and give them a lifestyle and myself as well. If I went back, I'd loved to be more patient and that would have made me a little less heated on the golf course, if you like, or, you know, that pressurized way that I used to play, you know? I wish I was slightly more relaxed. GWK: I know you won that the Accenture Match Play when it was an 'unofficial' tournament in the U.S, but did it bother you that you didn't get an official PGA Tour win? CM: I suppose. You know, they always say, oh, he never won in America and all this sort of stuff. I did OK in Europe. I beat a few of them, and I mean, I did win that match play. You know, I beat Davis Love in the final and Ernie Els in the semifinal. I count that as a victory because they were better than I was. It was nice, to put it this way, to finally achieve it in my 50s at the Senior PGA Championship. I was 51 at the time, 2014, when I won at Benton Harbor. It meant a lot to me to actually get that monkey off of my back, if you know what I mean, but, yeah, hey, you've got to be fortunate as well to win. It's not easy. GWK: If you had one last round, where would you want it to be? CM: My home club, Sunningdale (in England). That's where we live and it's the most beautiful walk. Forget the golf — almost. It makes you want to borrow a couple of Labrador dogs and carry a bag around and just love the walk more than the game of golf. Sunningdale is a beautiful spot. It's our Pine Valley, really, and that's the highest compliment I can give it.
