Ireland's Padraig Harrington won his first PGA Tour event after a tension packed three-way play-off at the Honda Classic at Palm Beach, Florida.
Harrington deserved victory on the basis of his final round alone, but he finished alongside Fiji's Vijay Singh and American Joe Ogilvie despite claiming 11 birdies to grab a nine-under 63, and was forced to go to a play-off.
Harrington birdied 10 of his first 13 holes, including six in a row from the eighth. His only setbacks were back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15 as he finished with a 72-hole total of 274.
Ogilvie was eliminated on the first hole of the playoff after finding a fairway bunker with a wayward drive, while Singh was the only one to find the fairway with his drive but his birdie putt trailed off to the right by inches and he tapped in for par.
Harrington meanwhile found the rough from the tee and again on his approach, but was able to get up and down, bagging a six-footer to force another hole.
On the second playoff hole, Singh and Harrington were both in the fairway off the tee and were within feet of each other in the rough to the left of the green.
Singh was inside Harrington after both men chipped onto the green with his third shot and Harrington drained his putt for par. Needing to hole a putt from four feet, Singh saw his effort lip out on the right, allowing Harrington to net his first US tour triumph.
Afterwards a joyful Harrington said: "I thought it (Singh's putt at the second playoff hole) was a gimme. It was a shock. I was mentally prepared to go back to the tee. It was a surprise...it took me a couple of seconds for it to sink in because I was really focused."
"It's very good to be the first Irishman. It does mean a lot to me now that I've done it.I wouldn't have liked to have put it up there beforehand, but now that I am the first, nobody can take it away from me," he added.
"It's brilliant for my confidence. I was well down in the field last week and struggling to make the cut here for most of the week. You try not to get down on yourself so to get a win so quickly is phenomenal."
