By Chris Sykes

The 136th Open Championship should've been won by Sergio Garcia from Spain. At one point on the final day, he had a 4 shot lead over the rest of the field. Yet somehow, he threw away his chance to win the biggest prize in golf, instead, gifting the title to Ireland's Padraig Harrington. Harrington became the first European to win a major title for 8 years, the last was Paul Lawrie of Scotland in 1999. Ironically, both wins were at the same course, Carnoustie. There are distinct similarities between the 1999 Open Championship and this years tournament. Both tournaments had players throwing away leads on the final day to a player who came out of nowhere. Both tournaments had a play-off and both had a European winner.

Thursday July 19th 2007, Day 1 of golf's most prestigious competition. The best golfers in the world descended on Carnoustie, possibly the toughest golf course in Britain. World number 1 Tiger Woods was looking for his 3rd consecutive Open triumph and got off to a decent start, carding a 2 under par 69. The lead changed hands several times early on the first morning with Retief Goosen and K.J Choi both at the top of the leaderboard at some point. But it was Paul McGinley of Ireland who led for most of the day. McGinley scored a 4 under par 67. John Daly briefly rolled back the years to lead, but he faded away. It was Sergio Garcia though, who grabbed the tournament by the scruff of its neck. Garcia scored a 6 under par round of 65 to have a two stroke lead at the end of Day 1.

Day 2, Padraig Harrington, one of Europe's main hopes, had a disappointing second round. After shooting an opening round 69, Harrington dropped 2 shots in a 73 which left him level par for the championship. Tiger Woods dropped 3 shots to be 1 over for the championship. It was Sergio Garcia who held the lead at the end of the second day. He scored an even par 71 to leave him 6 under for the championship, 2 shots a head of his nearest challenger Koreas K.J.Choi. Choi, brief leader on day 1, shot a 69 to move him to 4 under par. Some people didn't fare as well. Some big names couldn't quite reach the 4 over par cut. Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson and 1999 winner Paul Lawrie didn't reach the weekend. Carnoustie's reputation as Britain's toughest golf course was justified.

Day 3 was dominated by the in form Garcia. The Spaniard shot a 3 under par 68 to leave himself on 9 under overall. Padraig Harrington carded the same score to be 6 behind Garcia, whilst Tiger Woods only made slight inroads with a 2 under par 69 to leave him 8 shots of the lead. The big mover of the day was Steve Stricker of America. Stricker moved from 1 over to 6 under in a course record equalling 64, 7 under par. With Choi and McGinley falling back, Stricker moved in to second place, 3 behind Garcia. Sergio was closing in on the title.

The final day, as is most often the case, was the most dramatic. Tiger Woods lost his chance of 3 in a row, only managing a 1 under par 70 to leave the world number 1 on 2 under overall. Sergio Garcia, overwhelming favourite to win, struggled on the final day. Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington was making his move and slowly started to reel in Garcia. Garcia had at one point a 4 shot lead over the field, but this slowly disappeared and, when Garcia was at the 15th green, he and Harrington were level. Things went from bad to worse for the Spaniard when he bogeyed the 15th to trail Harrington by 1 shot. By the time Harrington reached the 18th tee, he had extended his lead to 2. Harrington was on 9 under with Garcia on 7 under par. It wasn't over there though. Harrington found the water not once but twice on the last. He double bogeyed 18 to finish with a 67(4 under par). Garcia picked up a shot and he went to the last needing only to get round the hole in 4 shots to win. But Garcia drove into greenside bunker with his second shot. He left himself with an eight foot putt to win the Open Championship. The ball narrowly missed and there was to be a 4 hole play-off to determine the winner.

The first play off hole was hole 1. Harrington birdied the first whilst Garcia bogeyed it. Both players went the 18th with Harrington still 2 ahead. Garcia missed his birdie putt to leave Harrington needing 2 shots from his position on the green to win. He pushed the first 3and a half feet past, leaving him the most important put of his career so far. Harrington held his nerve and sunk the putt to become the first Irish winner of the Open for 60 years and the first European major winner for 8 years. Like 1999, a player in a seemingly unassailable position was overhauled by a player coming from nowhere. In 1999 Paul Lawrie overhauled Jean Van De Velde and this year, Padraig Harrington snatched the 136th Open Championship from under the nose of Sergio Garcia. Lets hope we don't have to wait another 8 years for a European to win a major title. And lets hope the next Open is just as dramatic as exciting as this one was.