Harrington wins European Tour Shot of the Month

Padraig Harrington s fantastic 2008 season has continued with news he has been awarded The European Tour Shot of the Month for August.

The Irishman, who also won the July award following his victory in The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, took the honours in August too for his superb tee shot at the penultimate hole in the final round of the US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.

Having started the final round three shots off the lead, the superb strike to within eight feet of the pin set up a birdie two which gave Harrington the lead over Sergio Garcia and the impetus to go on, a hole later, to claim his second Major Championship of the season and his third in total.

Second place went to Sweden s Peter Hanson for his precise tee shot on the final hole at Arlandastad Golf which secured victory in the SAS Masters, his second European Tour victory, and one which thrilled the watching Stockholm public.

Third place went to Northern Ireland s Darren Clarke for his tee shot on the short 11th hole in the final round of The KLM Open at Kennemer Golf and Country Club. The accurate strike, which very nearly found the bottom of the cup for a hole in one, set up a tap-in birdie two and gave Clarke a four shot lead from where he went on to claim the title.

Previous European Tour Shot of the Month winners from 2008 are: South Africa s Richard Sterne (January), New Zealand s Mark Brown (February), the Northern Irish duo of Graeme McDowell (March) and Darren Clarke (April), England s Richard Finch (May), Martin Kaymer of Germany (June) and Harrington (July).

The European Tour Shot of the Month Award is presented to the Tour Member for the shot judged to be the most outstanding played during each calendar month on The European Tour International Schedule. The winning shots from each month are entered into The European Tour Shot of the Year Award.