US PGA CHAMPIONSHIP HARRINGTON'S VICTORY:PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON yesterday sat on a poolside deck chair in his soon-to-be vacated rental house on Indian Mound West in the township of Bloomfield.

The morning after the night before, the 90th US PGA champion was the picture of contentment. Why wouldn't he be? The Wanamaker Trophy and the Claret Jug sat side-by-side on a table, and his nine-month-old son, Ciarán, sat on his knee. Happy days!

The killer eyes had gone, replaced by ones that danced with sheer delight; finally, his achievement had started to soak in. "You know," he said, referring to that obsessive desire for glory that nowadays accompanies him down the back stretch of a final round in a major, "when I get those scary eyes, I do things".

Nobody could disagree with that observation. On Sunday evening, as he once again became the nemesis of Sergio Garcia, the 36-year-old Dubliner had performed with self-obsessed will-power - rubbing salt into the Spaniard's wounded mindset with three single putts on the 16th, 17th and 18th greens - as he made things happen down the final stretch.

As Ben Curtis, who finished tied-second with Garcia two strokes behind Harrington, put it: "That was Tiger-like . . . Pádraig is playing pretty impressive golf. He knows how to win, and he's not afraid to win. That's what it takes."

Harrington, who remains at world number three, has - as a three-time major champion, and winner of three of the last six majors - moved on to a new level and, it seems, must reset goals and challenges with each passing week.

Although he will take a well-earned family holiday in North Carolina for the remainder of this week, he will be back in competition at next week's Barclays Championship as he now adds the FedEx Cup campaign (the season-ending series in the USA) to his list of targets.

In fact, Harrington will be playing the first three tournaments on the FedEx schedule - the Barclays, the following week's Deutsche Bank and the BMW Championship - before briefly returning home for a break. He will then head back stateside for the Ryder Cup, where he will be Nick Faldo's key man and is set to play an inspirational role in Europe's bid for a historic four-in-a-row of wins.

For now, Harrington must get accustomed to the fact that he has moved to a new stratosphere in the golfing community. He is a big player, and his manager, Adrian Mitchell of IMG, yesterday conceded this win makes him more marketable than ever in a global context, with a number of key contracts - including one with club manufacturer Wilson - due to expire at the end of this year.

Indeed, since the British Open Championship win at Royal Birkdale last month, Harrington has already added the Oceanico property group and mobile company "3" to his list of sponsorship deals.

Yesterday, as he sat in the rear garden of his rented house dressed in Hollister T-shirt and shorts, Harrington came to terms with the fact he has moved to the level of a golfing great.

As he conceded: "Having won three majors, in the modern era, and the players I compare myself to and the majors they have won, I have to start accepting I am who I am.

"I've probably been the best player in Europe for six years but, over that time, I haven't really shouted it from the tree tops.

"Now, I've got to get to grips with who I am as a player, and where I am. I've won as many majors now as Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh. And they are considered that next tier behind Tiger. I'm the youngest of the three of them, and that says a lot. I'm the youngest and I have three majors. I feel like my game is going from strength to strength."

Harrington pointed out that as he has progressed to each level throughout his career, he has always found it difficult until he gets to the comfort zone where suddenly it all comes good. "You know, the next level is just staying here. I've already proved I can win majors. I'm not turning around here and saying I'm going to break it down and change everything. I don't need to. But I do need to try and improve, to get more sustainability . . . and probably more sustainability in normal tournaments, in believing I am a guy who has won three majors. That I am world number three at the moment and I am improving."

He added: "I can hit all the shots, I have all the belief . . . but you'd be surprised at how much hard work I make it for myself."

One of the most impressive features of Harrington's latest win was his ability to make things happen down the stretch on Sunday. Basically, doing a Tiger on the major. "I've always had the ability to hole putts, to get into that zone . . . the best part of golf is when I have to make things happen. It is what I look for, what I enjoy, what I relish. To make things happen.

"To become a better player, I've to believe more in myself and go out with that natural flow in my game and that bit of confidence, that I will play better earlier in tournaments. I want to play better in rounds one, two, three, which will give me chances of getting into the right position, that I am the one people are chasing on Sundays. I've always had good internal belief but I need to have that ability to walk on to the first tee, puff out my chest and say, 'I'm here'. It's something I have never had."

Harrington - like Woods, Mickelson et al - will have to wait until next year's US Masters for his next major assignment. The difference this time is that Harrington will be the one going there as a back-to-back major champion. He is the only one going there capable of keeping the winning streak in majors going. They're already calling his quest, the "Paddy Slam" - a la the "Tiger Slam" of 2000/2001 that Woods accomplished.

Maybe it's an indication of Harrington's new status that rather than veer away from talk of such a prospect, he is able to grin and remark: "Well, I've won two in a row so I'm the only guy who can go and win the next one and win the three-in-a-row. I am in a position to win the next one and that's all I can say." Too true.

(USA unless stated, par 70)

277 (-3)

Padraig Harrington (Irl) 71 74 66 66

279 (-1)

Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 73 69 68

Ben Curtis 73 67 68 71

281 (+1)

Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 72 67 68

Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 70 68 72

282 (+2)

Steve Flesch 73 70 70 69

284 (+4)

Phil Mickelson 70 73 71 70

Andres Romero (Arg) 69 78 65 72

285 (+5)

Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 70 71 74

Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 74 70 73

Justin Rose (Eng) 73 67 74 71

Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 73 72 70 70

286 (+6)

Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 71 71 73

Ken Duke 69 73 73 71

287 (+7)

Paul Casey (Eng) 72 74 72 69

Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 74 72 68 73

Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 76 70 68 73

David Toms 72 69 72 74

Stuart Appleby (Aus) 76 70 69 72

288 (+8)

Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 77 71 72

Brian Gay 70 74 72 72

Boo Weekley 72 71 79 66

Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 72 72 74

289 (+9)

Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 74 69 74

Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 75 71 70 73

Mark Brown 77 69 74 69

Brandt Snedeker 71 71 74 73

Nicholas Thompson 71 72 73 73

290 (+10)

JB Holmes 71 68 70 81

Jim Furyk 71 77 70 72

291 (+11)

Robert Allenby (Aus) 76 72 72 71

Sean O'Hair 69 73 76 73

Paul Goydos 74 69 73 75

Chris DiMarco 75 72 72 72

Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 75 70 75

Ian Poulter (Eng) 74 71 73 73

Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 73 74 74 70

DJ Trahan 72 71 76 72

292 (+12)

Steve Stricker 71 75 77 69

Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 72 73 73 74

Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 73 73 75

293 (+13)

Michael Campbell (Nzl) 73 71 75 74

John Senden (Aus) 76 72 72 73

Mike Weir (Can) 73 75 71 74

Tom Lehman 74 70 75 74

Briny Baird 71 72 73 77

294 (+14)

Dean Wilson 73 73 77 71

Michael Allen 70 75 71 78

Billy Mayfair 69 78 75 72

Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 74 76 73

Charles Howell III 72 76 77 69

295 (+15)

Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 73 75 76

Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 70 73 75

John Merrick 73 75 70 77

296 (+16)

Anthony Kim 70 75 74 77

James Kingston (Rsa) 72 76 74 74

Tim Clark (Rsa) 76 72 73 75

297 (+17)

Pat Perez 73 73 79 72

Justin Leonard 74 71 72 80

298 (+18)

Steve Marino 73 74 75 76

John Mallinger 72 75 77 74

Chez Reavie 78 70 78 72

299 (+19)

Paul Azinger 72 76 76 75

Mark Calcavecchia 71 76 76 76

Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 73 75 78

Corey Pavin 75 73 73 78

Kevin Sutherland 76 71 77 75

300 (+20)

Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 77 70 76 77

Peter Lonard (Aus) 74 74 74 78

301 (+21)

Bubba Watson 75 73 77 76

303 (+23)

Richard Green (Aus) 71 77 79 76

304 (+24)

Rocco Mediate 73 74 72 85

306 (+26)

Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 76 72 81 77