The 39th staging of the Senior Open Championship concluded on Sunday over the glorious Old Course at Sunningdale. It was won by Padraig Harrington, by three shots from Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard. In his career before he reached 50 years of age, the Irishman won three major championships (the Open twice and the USPGA Championship, all collected within the space of 13 months in 2007-8). With his win on Sunday he became the fifth golfer to have won the Open and its senior equivalent, the previous such achievers being Bob Charles, Tom Watson, Gary Player and Darren Clarke.
This has been quite a season for Harrington. Earlier this summer he won the US Senior Open, historically the most eminent event in the over-50 category, for a second time. He is 53. “As you get older, you realise a lot of things are to do with legacy and what you’ve done,” he said. “You want to win on a great course like Sunningdale.” He added: “You can win later on as senior, but the window, they say, is sort of up to about 55, 56. So you want to get it done. I didn’t want to leave it too long.”
The cast at Sunningdale, as one might expect, provided a pretty comprehensive list of golf’s Who’s Who (or, maybe more accurately, Who Was Who). It included winners of major championships from six continents. Six of these were multiple major champions. In addition to Harrington, they were Ernie Els and Retief Goosen (both from South Africa), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), José Maria Olazábal (Spain) and Bernhard Langer (Germany).
Langer’s is the most remarkable story. He will turn 68 later this month. He won the Masters twice (1985 and 1993) in his regular tour career and since becoming eligible for senior golf he has, amid 48 myriad worldwide victories, won this tournament four times and two years ago he also won the US Senior Open for a second time. (On that basis, Harrington might hope still to be a contender in 2035; perhaps beyond). At Sunningdale, after firing a 66 on Saturday, Langer finished in a tie for 24th. In so doing he finished nine shots ahead of Ian Woosnam, the 1991 Masters champion who is his junior by six months.
For those who recall the bygone and (arguably) halcyon years of European golf – the era of the ‘Famous Five’; Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Langer and Woosnam – who would have predicted that, for very different reasons, it would only be the latter two who were still playing the game for a living in 2025? Especially the indefatigable German. Even before he won his first Masters – 40 years ago! – he would suffer from a recurring case of the yips. Yet somehow Langer has managed to linger longer than anyone else on or around tournament leaderboards. It has been a remarkable performance.