Fresh from the Ryder Cup victory just a week earlier, Padraig Harrington continued to enjoy the taste of success in St Andrews winning both the individual and team titles in the Dunhill Links Championship.

Closely pursued by Eduardo Romero, and on occasion overtaken by him during the four day tournament, Harrington scored 66 at both Carnoustie and Kingsbarns and 68 on the Old Course. After the Argentinian missed an eight foot putt for victory on the 18th green, they remained locked together on 269, 19 under par, and went to a sudden death play off.

At the second hole, Harrington holed a 12 foot putt for a birdie to win the championship and the top prize of over £500,000. Joint third were Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh and Sandy Lyle with 271.

In his acceptance speech, Harrington said he had just enjoyed the best two weeks of his life. He also paid tribute to his amateur playing partner and fellow Irishman, J P McManus, for keeping him relaxed. Their team score of 37 under left them five points clear of the runners-up, Romero and Neil Crichton.

Monty sets course record
Colin Montgomerie set a new course record of 63 for the Old Course in the last round of the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday 6 October. Montgomerie who was eight shots behind the leaders at the start of the windless final day put in an outstanding performance on the Old Course.

After nine birdies in the first 12 holes, which included six consecutive birdies from the 7th hole, he holed a three foot putt at the 17th Road Hole bringing him to 10 under par. A shot into the notorious Valley of Sin on the 18th resulted in a bogey five. His impressive 63 gave him a four round total of 271 and left him in joint third place two shots behind Harrington and Romero.

The previous Old Course record of 65 was also established in this tournament, when it was the Alfred Dunhill Cup. It was first set in 1997 by Justin Leonard and Jesper Parnevik who both went round in 65. Since then Carlos Franco from Paraguay equalled this score not once but twice in 1999, again in the Dunhill Cup. Then in the 2000 tournament Nick O'Hern from Australia joined the record holders with a 65 in the first round. In the new format as the Dunhill Links Championship which was first played in 2001, Paul Lawrie scored 63 but as the course was not being played at its full championship length, it did not count as a new record. Prior to the lengthening of the course, the record had stood at Curtis Strange's 62 since 1989.