Padraig Harrington turned back the clock at the Portugal Masters on Sunday with a final round of 65 to win by one stroke over defending champion Andy Sullivan.
‘It’s a big win,’ said Harrington. ‘Portugal Masters is a big tournament. I’ve been coming here for ten years, so I’ve always liked it down here. I’ve always liked coming down to Portugal.
‘There’s so many Irish people here. It always felt like a home away from home, so it’s really nice to win the tournament.’
The Irishman, whose last victory came at the 2008 PGA Championship, made the lowest total on the European Tour this season with his 23-under-par haul at Victoria Clube de Golfe. He carded rounds of 66, 63, 67 and 65 on the Portuguese coast for his 31st victory worldwide, ending an eight-year trophy drought.
‘I tried to be really aggressive. The golf course suited me and I just tried to go after every pin I could and make birdies. I have a pretty good short game that was on form this week. No matter where I hit it, I felt like I could get it up and down,’ he said.
South Africa’s Justin Walters made sure that he kept a European Tour card for next season with his tied-17th result in Portugal. A Sunday round of 64, the second-lowest of the day, took him to 16 under par for the tournament.
George Coetzee broke 70 in all four tournament rounds to share 31st place on 13 under par, while Thomas Aiken and Trevor Fisher were both a shot worse and tied for 37th place.
