Harrington claims European award

LONDON, England -- British Open champion Padraig Harrington was named the European Tour Golfer of the Year for 2007 on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old, whose second son Ciaran was born on November 24, missed out on the award last season to Ryder Cup teammate Paul Casey -- despite winning the European Order of Merit.

But this time he has won the vote of a panel of writers and commentators ahead of U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and new European number one Justin Rose.

The Dubliner ended Europe's eight-year barren spell in the majors when he beat Spain's Sergio Garcia in a play-off at Carnoustie in July.

No Irishman had lifted the Claret Jug since Fred Daly in 1947 and during the season he also became the first first home winner of the Irish Open since John O'Leary in 1982.

"There were a couple of other wins in there, so it is really nice for it all to be recognized at the end of the season by being named the European Tour Golfer of the Year, an award I will treasure," said Harrington, who is in California this week for the Target World Challenge.

Taking nothing granted for 2008, Harrington thinks next September's European Ryder Cup side under Nick Faldo in Kentucky will be the usual mixture of new and old.

He said: "The only thing I've got to make sure of is that I'm in there as one of the elder statesmen.

"There's plenty of work still to be done to get into that team (he is currently 13th in the standings) and like any player I'll be anxious to get myself in early rather than late - you don't want to be sweating about it." E-mail to a friend