The Irishman, who secured his second U.S. Senior Open title last month, finished three strokes ahead of fellow former Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjørn and 1997 Champion Golfer of the Year Justin Leonard to claim his third Senior Major victory.

What a moment for @Padraig_H.

The Irishman captures his second senior major title of 2025 pic.twitter.com/ljxGkMqR6G

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 27, 2025

Harrington, who won the Senior US Open in June, completed his four rounds at Sunningdale in -16, and becomes the third Irish player to win the Senior Open, following Christy O’Connor Jnr and Darren Clarke.

Post round interview! As always if he speaks, you listen pic.twitter.com/Ui3HuxcB0s

— PADRAIG HARRINGTON TRACKER (@PadraigHTracker) July 27, 2025

Harrington, who won The Open in 2007 and defended the Championship in 2008, joins Bob Charles, Darren Clarke, Gary Player and Tom Watson as the only men in history to have won both the Claret Jug and Senior Open Trophy.

The 53-year-old started the day with a two-stroke lead over Leonard, which he immediately increased to three after an eagle at the first on the Old Course at Sunningdale. Further gains at the sixth and ninth holes saw his lead extend to four strokes after the turn, but Bjørn moved to within two after a run of four birdies in six holes from the ninth.

The Dane’s momentum was halted by a bogey at the 16th and, despite dropping a shot of his own on the 17th, Harrington held a three-stroke lead on the 18th tee.

Playing partner Leonard also tried to apply pressure but ultimately signed for a two under par round of 68 and a 13 under par total. Harrington hit his approach safely on the 18th green and had two putts for par for a three under par 67, a 16 under par total and his 11th victory since joining the over-50s ranks.

“I’m just thrilled”

A delighted Pádraig Harrington said of his third Senior major success:

“Right now I’m just thrilled to have won the tournament and gone out there and played well. I think, yeah, that will seep in. I know you were talking about how I won The Open, to win the Senior Open, there’s only five players, so you want to be in that category. I think they are the sort of things that you realise over the next couple of days, the significance of it. I’m thrilled, euphoric, that I’ve gotten it done.

“As you get older, you realise a lot of things is legacy and what you’ve done and you want to win on a great golf course like Sunningdale. You want to do things that stand out, and having won a real Open, coming out, winning the Senior Open, it does give some — it adds a validation. It’s certainly satisfying to do it, to extent your career that way.”

The Dubliner continued:

“There are some great names on the trophy. I was watching it coming out last night. I was looking up inside at the board that has all the winners. It’s a deep sense of satisfaction. I’m kind of on a high of winning, but then there will be that deep sense of satisfaction knowing that you’ve done both.

“And especially you come to this stage, there’s only a certain window. You know, you can win later on as a senior but the window, they say, sort of up to about 55, 56, so you want to get it done. And having had a couple of second places, I didn’t want to leave it too long. It would start becoming a problem if you don’t win it too soon, and I’m glad I got mine.”

Australian Scott Hend finished the week in fourth place on 12 under par, while Ernie Els and Cameron Percy shared fifth on 11 under.

Select scores after Round Four:

264 P HARRINGTON (IRL) 67 65 65 67,
267 T BJORN (DEN) 70 63 67 67, J LEONARD (USA) 69 65 65 68,
268 S HEND (AUS) 68 71 64 65,
269 C PERCY (AUS) 69 65 70 65, E ELS (RSA) 67 67 69 66,
270 S ALKER (NZL) 63 73 66 68,
271 S ALLAN (AUS) 68 67 70 66, K SUTHERLAND (USA) 69 67 66 69, G CHALMERS (AUS) 70 66 66 69,
272 Y YANG (KOR) 70 66 71 65,
273 R GREEN (AUS) 68 69 70 66, S GALLACHER (SCO) 68 68 70 67,
274 P LAWRIE (SCO) 69 67 71 67, A CEJKA (GER) 72 65 70 67, K HORNE (RSA) 70 69 65 70,
275 S GRIFFITHS (ENG) 70 68 71 66, B VAN PELT (USA) 73 67 69 66, J KELLY (USA) 69 69 68 69, M WRIGHT (AUS) 72 65 68 70, D FICHARDT (RSA) 68 70 66 71,
276 S WEBSTER (ENG) 70 69 69 68, C DENNIS (USA) 70 68 64 74,
277 B DREDGE (WAL) 73 68 69 67, K CHOI (KOR) 66 67 75 69, A ATWAL (IND) 67 72 69 69, M JIM?NEZ (ESP) 67 70 70 70, R GONZALEZ (ARG) 67 67 72 71, B LANGER (GER) 72 68 66 71, M HENSBY (AUS) 64 72 69 72,
278 S AMES (CAN) 69 72 70 67, T PETROVIC (USA) 70 71 70 67, T O’NEAL (USA) 67 74 69 68, A CABRERA (ARG) 69 69 71 69, C MONTGOMERIE (SCO) 69 71 69 69, J HENRY (USA) 70 70 69 69, S BERTSCH (USA) 70 67 71 70, R GOOSEN (RSA) 67 70 70 71, J ROLLINS (USA) 69 70 68 71,
279 T RIDINGS (USA) 67 73 72 67, B ESTES (USA) 70 68 73 68, J CARON (USA) 71 69 71 68, C PAVIN (USA) 68 68 74 69, M GOGEL (USA) 71 68 69 71, C WI (KOR) 67 71 68 73, P GOYDOS (USA) 71 68 67 73.

The post Harrington wins ISPS Handa Senior Open by three shots appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The Dublin golfer is aiming to become the fifth player in history to win both The Open and ISPS HANDA Senior Open.

The Irishman, who won the Claret Jug in 2007 at Carnoustie and defended it at Royal Birkdale in 2008, carded a second consecutive round of 65 to reach 13 under par after three rounds.

Harrington made the turn two under par after birdies on the fourth and ninth holes. He then made his third gain of the day at the 11th hole. He recovered from a dropped shot on the 12th with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes and then rolled in a short putt on the 18th hole after hitting his approach to three feet.

Incredible touch from @Padraig_H

Watch the ISPS Handa Senior Open live now on Golf Channel.pic.twitter.com/T10rK51ug9

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 26, 2025

A birdie putt at the last saw him move two strokes clear of Justin Leonard, who also carded a second consecutive round of 65. The American, who won The Open in 1997 at Royal Troon, is also bidding to etch his name in history.

Commenting on his third round, Pádraig Harrington admitted:

“I still wasn’t comfortable. Like I thought I was getting better but yeah, I don’t think I rode my luck as much today. I wasn’t out of position but I certainly didn’t play much better than yesterday. Maybe a little bit more cautious today.

“It’s always nice to come back with a bounceback and a birdie. Believe it or not, I’d prefer to make a bogey and a birdie than two pars. I think when you can get caught in that sort of, I-haven’t-made-a-bogey-for-a-while type thing, that can get in your head. So getting rid of that is not a bad thing.”

Just four players have won both The Open and Senior Open, with Darren Clarke becoming the latest to do so after triumphing in 2022. The Irishman defeated Harrington by one stroke at Gleneagles to join Bob Charles, Gary Player and Tom Watson as the only men to achieve that feat.

"I'll wait until tomorrow to try and digest that."@Padraig_H was honest when asked about his opportunities at Sunningdale pic.twitter.com/qVWOWPGPJw

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 26, 2025

Thomas Bjørn, Europe’s victorious 2018 Ryder Cup Captain and 15-time winner on the DP World Tour, carded a three under par 67 to sit in solo third on ten under.

In a share of fourth on eight under par are 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Champion Steven Alker, former PGA Tour winner Greg Chalmers, 2017 Legends Tour Order of Merit winner Clark Dennis and 2002 WGC Match Play winner Kevin Sutherland.

The post Harrington has 2-shot advantage in ISPS HANDA Senior Open appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.