Golf: Philip Reidrelives the drama in Carnoustie in late July when Pádraig Harrington overcame disaster on the 18th to claim the British Open

In the weeks before the British Open at Carnoustie, young Patrick Harrington, just short of his fourth birthday, discovered a new obsession. It involved finding homes for the proliferation of ladybirds in the foothills of the Dublin mountains and, whenever his dad wasn't away at a golf tournament or out on the practice ground, the son inveigled Pádraig Harrington to use his engineering skills to use pieces of Lego to make safe havens for the insects which entomologists call coccinellidae; or, simply, ladybird beetles to the rest of us.

One day in July, Harrington, the dad, found a new place to collect ladybirds for Harrington, the son: the Claret Jug, a piece of silverware more prized than any in sport. In truth, its correct name is The Golf Champion Trophy, awarded annually since 1873 (when Tom Kidd won, although Tom Morris jnr's name was the first to be engraved on it as the 1872 winner) to the winner of The Open Championship.

To get his hands on the trophy, though, Harrington - and everyone watching - experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. It was white-knuckle, heart-stopping drama that no scriptwriter would have dared attempt. It was sporting drama in its rawest state.

But, by the end of that Sunday evening of July 22nd on the western coast of Scotland, Harrington - who outfought Sergio Garcia in a golfing duel that was to leave the Spaniard inconsolable - had ended so many famines: the first Irishman since Fred Daly in 1947 to win the British Open (or any major), the first European since Paul Lawrie in 1999 to win a major.

It was a long way from his time as a five-year-old at Stackstown Golf Club when he donned Wellington boots to flatten out the greens on the fledgling course, and when he first used a handed-down, oversized eight-iron with, as he recalls, a "big chunk taken out of the grip".

At Carnoustie, Harrington became the third first-time major winner of 2007: Zach Johnson, a 175 to 1 outsider, had won the Masters tournament in April, while Argentina's Angel Cabrera captured the US Open title at Oakmont in June. Come August and the old order would be restored when Tiger Woods, chasing down Jack Nicklaus's record haul of 18, won the US PGA to claim the 13th major of his career.

For Harrington, the British Open was the 37th major appearance in a professional career that started in 1995. Yet, it was only after finishing seventh in the Masters to Johnson at Augusta National that Harrington really believed the learning curve was nearly over and that he had it in him to win a major.

Ironically, Harrington missed the cut in the US Open, a spell of mid-round madness in his second round when he dropped nine shots in four holes to slip from the fringes of contention to a lost weekend leaving him with much food for thought.

By the time Harrington arrived in Carnoustie, all bad thoughts of Oakmont had been banished. In finalising his preparations for the British Open, the Dubliner had played in - and won - the Irish PGA Championship at The European Club. He needed a play-off to beat Headfort club professional Brendan McGovern. Still, it gave Harrington his second win of the season, having ended a 25-year famine since John O'Leary's last home triumph when winning the Irish Open at Adare Manor in May.

When Harrington got to Carnoustie, his health wasn't entirely as he would have wanted it: he awoke on Monday morning with a stiff neck, that meant he couldn't practise at all that day, and he would require constant treatment throughout the week from his physiotherapist Dale Richardson.

However, by Wednesday, Harrington had started to wonder about what might lie ahead. On that afternoon on the eve of the championship, he was playing a practice round with Paul McGinley when he hit the sort of hot streak that players always wish could be kept for when it mattered: in tournament play. Harrington had suffered a quadruple bogey on the fourth after finding a fairway bunker off the tee but from then on got into the zone.

From the fifth to the ninth holes, he had two birdies and three pars; thereafter, it was pure magic as he went birdie-birdie-par-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie. He had been nine under for 12 holes, and he had a new pep in his step.

For three days, Harrington lurked in the shadows; and it was Garcia, his Ryder Cup team-mate, who seemed destined to take the Claret Jug. It would have been fitting in its own way. Back in 1999, Garcia had walked off the course in tears after being 30 over par after two rounds and finishing dead last.

In 2007, Garcia completed a third-round 68 which left him on 204, nine under par. Harrington was in a group of players in tied-third, six strokes back. Only Steve Stricker alone lay between Garcia and the chasing pack. On the Sunday, Harrington became the main pursuer; although Andres Romero, the young Argentinian, also put up in a brave performance only to fall foul of the finishing stretch and to run up a double-bogey six on the 17th and compound it with a bogey on the 18th. He was eventually to finish third, a shot outside the 72-hole totals set by Harrington and Garcia.

Harrington's 67 for a total of 277 had been beautifully manufactured, until the end. On the 72nd hole - standing on the tee with the lead in his possession - he suffered his first mental lapse, pushing his drive so far right that it bounced on the pedestrian bridge that runs across the Barry Burn before dropping into the hazard.

A penalty drop later, and Harrington's approach shot was drawing more groans of agony from the spectators as, caught heavy, it again fell into the burn that meandered its way up the hole and across the front of the green. In the end, having dropped for his second penalty of the finishing hole, Harrington showed tremendous fortitude to get up and down from 48 yards for a double-bogey six that nevertheless left him with "a feeling of embarrassment". He believed for all the world that his chance had gone.

There was to be an out, though. Garcia, requiring a par to win the Open, bogeyed the last after putting his approach into a greenside bunker. Harrington, who had watched Garcia in the sanctuary of the recorder's hut with the TV sound turned down, returned for the head-to-head duel over four holes and, after taking a two-stroke advantage at the first with a birdie to Garcia's bogey, he finally closed things out on his return to the 18th.

Unlike his visit in regulation, Harrington, standing on the tee with a two-shot lead, left the driver in the bag and effectively played the hole as a par five. And so it came to be that he stood on the 18th, the fourth play-off hole, with a three-and-a-half-foot putt for bogey that would give him a place in history. "It was as easy a tough putt as I've hit in my life. I knew the line and just stood up, went through my routine and hit it.

"I rolled it in the middle. It was all very routine, flowing and fluid. It was pure Bob Rotella stuff. I looked at where I wanted the ball to go, and how it was getting there."

It was that easy.

Now, months later, Harrington knows he has moved up a number of rungs in the ladder. His own expectations have also shifted. "It's all about being ready for the majors, that's where my focus lies. Because I've won the Open, I have to grind harder than ever and to work harder to make sure I don't get complacent. There is a little man in the back of my head driving me on to make sure I get out to do the work."

He has also learnt, just as his psychologist has always claimed, that golf is not a game of perfect. "I have always said one of my greatest traits is that I am happy to put my neck on the line, and it has been chopped off plenty of times and I still get up from that. Winning a major championship, you're really putting it out there. That's why I felt embarrassed (putting it in water) . . . . the number of people that still come to me and judge me for hitting a driver off the last and I won the tournament.

"Can you imagine if I didn't win what the story would be? But, having one won, I now understand the fact that I can mess up and still win. So that takes a burden off me. I can see the fact I don't have to be perfect to win."

What we already knew . ..

In our hearts, we knew (didn't we?) that Pádraig Harrington had it in him to win a major. We also knew he would win one the hard way. It's the only way he knows.

What we learned . . .

That promises can be broken. The Ryder Cup was secured for The K Club in 2006 on the back of a commitment by Smurfit Kappa to sponsor the European Open up to 2015. The company terminated its sponsorship in October, eight years early.

What might happen . . .

Only five players in history have ever won the career Grand Slam: Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Tiger Woods. Nobody has ever won the Grand Slam in the same season. In 2008, the major venues - Masters (Augusta), US Open (Torrey Pines), British Open (Birkdale), US PGA (Oakland Hills) - are made for one man: Woods could make history.