Irish golfer Padraig Harrington gave up accountancy to turn professional in 1995 after a successful amatuer career and quickly won his first tittle – the Peugeot Spanish Open – the following year.

In both 2003 and 2004 he was runner up in The Players’ Championship.

At the 2007 Open Championships Padraig became the first golfer from the Republic of Ireland to win the Title, defeating Sergio Garcia in a four hole playoff at the Carnoustie Golf Links. A year later, his defence of the the tittle at Royal Birkdale was in jeopardy due to an injured wrist, but he overcame a 2 shot deficit to Greg Norman to retain the famous Claret Jug.

The win moved him to third in the world rankings. Three weeks later he won his third major, The PGA Championship at the South Course of The Oakland Hills Country Club. Between 2001 and 2010 Padraig spent over 2300 weeks in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rnkkings. He has also represented Europe six times in the Ryder Cup, winning in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2010. His best finish in the two remaining majors is a 4th in the US Open in 2012 and 5th twice (2002, 2008) in The Masters.

Padraig signed this sketch at last week’s Scottish Open at the Royal Aberdeen curse in the warm up to this week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.