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Padraig Harrington shot 28 on the back nine en route to a 9-under 63 on Sunday to become the first player to successfully defend his title at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.

The Irishman surged past the leaders with a 7-under-par stretch on holes 12-17. He sank a 16-foot eagle putt on the par-4 No. 16 and made birdies on the other five holes.

He closed with a par to finish at 18-under 198 for the three-round tournament, one stroke ahead of first-round leader Joe Durant (66 on Sunday) and two better than South Africa’s Ernie Els (68), one of three co-leaders after Saturday. Els recorded his only bogey of the tournament on the par-4 18th hole Sunday.

A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2024, Harrington opened with birdies on Nos. 1 and 3, gave a shot back with a bogey at the par-3 fourth hole, then sandwiched birdies at No. 6 and 9 with a bogey at No. 7 for a 2-under 35 on his front nine.

Two pars followed at Nos. 10-11.

“You know, I played really nicely for the first 12 holes. Three three-putts,” Harrington said. “You know, you can’t three-putt when you’re chasing like that. And then on 11. I got in trouble and made a great up-and-down.”

Then Harrington heated up and raced past the competition.

“Obviously, I wasn’t thinking about winning at that stage, I was thinking about just trying to make as many birdies,” he said. “When I started making them, yeah, then I started thinking about it when I got, I suppose, three or four of them. But it was a bonus, obviously, to make eagle.”

He almost felt like he couldn’t miss, as in the 6-foot birdie on the par-3 17th hole that provided the winning edge.

“I could have closed my eyes, turned my back and I would have holed the putts on 17,” Harrington said. “It’s amazing, when they’re going in you can’t see a way of missing. When they’re not going in, as they were on the front nine, I couldn’t see a way of getting them in.”

Harrington is 2-for-2 in his career winning the PGA Tour Champions event at En-Joie Golf Club. His first victory this season is the 51-year-old’s fifth in 28 starts on the tour since his rookie campaign of 2022. He has made the cut in each event.

The 9-under 63 is one stroke more than his career low in the third round of the 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

–Field Level Media