The 18th hole at Dundalk Golf Club is named after three-time major champion winner Padraig Harrington, who won the Dundalk Scratch Cup, also known as the Carroll Cup, in 1995. It is a hole that played an important role in the development of one of Ireland’s greatest ever golfers.
When Padraig Harrington stepped onto the 18th tee in the final round of the 1995 Dundalk Scratch Cup he was holding a one-shot lead over local player Daniel Coyle. However, memories of the final round of the 1990 Irish Youths Championship at Dundalk Golf Club loomed large.
Back in 1990, when he stood on the 18th tee, he was in trouble. Having led by two shots with three holes to go, he was now level after two bogeys, before a further bogey on the last saw him lose the title to David Errity who was sitting in the Clubhouse oblivious to what was going on out on the course.
The whispers in the locker rooms were that Harrington had “choked”. He was fully aware of what people were saying about him and was in tears after the word “choker” was used within earshot.
“When you're only 18 that kind of thing does get to you. It was unfortunate but I felt it," he told Liam Kelly in an Irish Independent interview on May 5, 2003.
"I don't generally take my results off the course with me, but I did that day,” he revealed to Paul Kimmage in an interview for the Sunday Independent on March 11, 2001. “I was not happy I can tell you. A lot of people said some very hurtful things afterwards, basically that I had choked, but I had done exactly the opposite. When I had put myself under pressure, I'd played great, but it was only when I'd relaxed and come down from that high that I started to perform badly."
In an article published on March 23, 2016, Harrington told Doug Ferguson of the Atlanta Chronicle it was his hardest ever tournament loss. While there were no leaderboards on the course, someone told him that he was two ahead with three to play.
"And I relaxed and I thought I had it won," he said. "And I bogeyed the last three holes."
Harrington revealed to Ferguson that he's not sure he would have won his first Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2007 without that memory of that loss in the Irish Youths at Dundalk.
Harrington recalls standing over an 8-foot putt that would have put him three shots ahead of Sergio Garcia going to the 18th in the four-hole playoff. However, the putt lacked commitment and missed.
"It was amazing the lack of focus I had in that putt," he said. "I realised it was the exact same feeling as Dundalk. I thought I had done it. I thought I had finished. 'Wow, I'm going three shots ahead.' And I didn't have any focus whatsoever on it. It's a long walk from the 17th green to the 18th tee. All I was telling myself was I haven't won it, and all I was trying to do was put myself under pressure.
"So that loss in Dundalk possibly won me the Open in 2007, purely because I realised I don't perform well when I start relaxing. I'm always better when I'm fearful and nervous and got that stress in me."
In 1995, the Dundalk Scratch Cup was Harrington’s first event of the season. He arrived at the 18th needing a par to win and his mind was far from focused.
"The last hole in Dundalk is awkward in that you can hit a variety of shots off the tee. I was confused with what club to hit and confused with how I should swing, and it was a classic example of choking under pressure," he told Kimmage.
From the tee Harrington drove the ball into the trees on the right, then duffed his recovery from a reasonable lie, but was fortunate to catch a branch and avoid the bunkers protecting the green.
"I was still in the rough, which meant I had no control over the third shot but I managed to hit it to a foot. And the amount of people who thought that was brilliant and came up to me afterwards and said 'Wow, what balls!' And me having choked like a good thing!! And that's when you realise that a lot of people, it's not that they don't know what they're talking about, but they are making judgments without The Information.”
He also acknowledged the “up and down” was further evidence that he had what it took to become a professional. Harrington went on to win the Irish Amateur Open Championship and the Irish Close Championship, as well as capturing the Walker Cup with Great Britain & Ireland, before he turned professional in September 1995. He won his first professional tournament, the 1996 Spanish Open, the following year in what was only his 10th start on the European Tour.
In 2007 he became only the second Irish player to win one of golf’s major titles when he won The Open Championship at Carnoustie, which he then retained the following year at Royal Birkdale, shortly before he also won the USPGA Championship at Oakland Hills. A former six-time European Ryder Cup player and 2021 Captain, Harrington was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024.
When Harrington last played the 18th hole at Dundalk in 1995 it was known as Ceann Scribe or “Journey’s End”. Back then it marked the moment when Harrington knew his journey as an amateur was over. In 2025, Dundalk Golf Club marked the 30th anniversary of him winning the Carroll Cup by renaming the 18th hole, “Harrington’s Challenge”, in acknowledgement of the part the hole played on the road to his many outstanding career achievements.
When Padraig Harrington stepped onto the 18th tee in the final round of the 1995 Dundalk Scratch Cup he was holding a one-shot lead over local player Daniel Coyle. However, memories of the final round of the 1990 Irish Youths Championship at Dundalk Golf Club loomed large.
Back in 1990, when he stood on the 18th tee, he was in trouble. Having led by two shots with three holes to go, he was now level after two bogeys, before a further bogey on the last saw him lose the title to David Errity who was sitting in the Clubhouse oblivious to what was going on out on the course.
The whispers in the locker rooms were that Harrington had “choked”. He was fully aware of what people were saying about him and was in tears after the word “choker” was used within earshot.
“When you're only 18 that kind of thing does get to you. It was unfortunate but I felt it," he told Liam Kelly in an Irish Independent interview on May 5, 2003.
"I don't generally take my results off the course with me, but I did that day,” he revealed to Paul Kimmage in an interview for the Sunday Independent on March 11, 2001. “I was not happy I can tell you. A lot of people said some very hurtful things afterwards, basically that I had choked, but I had done exactly the opposite. When I had put myself under pressure, I'd played great, but it was only when I'd relaxed and come down from that high that I started to perform badly."
In an article published on March 23, 2016, Harrington told Doug Ferguson of the Atlanta Chronicle it was his hardest ever tournament loss. While there were no leaderboards on the course, someone told him that he was two ahead with three to play.
"And I relaxed and I thought I had it won," he said. "And I bogeyed the last three holes."
Harrington revealed to Ferguson that he's not sure he would have won his first Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2007 without that memory of that loss in the Irish Youths at Dundalk.
Harrington recalls standing over an 8-foot putt that would have put him three shots ahead of Sergio Garcia going to the 18th in the four-hole playoff. However, the putt lacked commitment and missed.
"It was amazing the lack of focus I had in that putt," he said. "I realised it was the exact same feeling as Dundalk. I thought I had done it. I thought I had finished. 'Wow, I'm going three shots ahead.' And I didn't have any focus whatsoever on it. It's a long walk from the 17th green to the 18th tee. All I was telling myself was I haven't won it, and all I was trying to do was put myself under pressure.
"So that loss in Dundalk possibly won me the Open in 2007, purely because I realised I don't perform well when I start relaxing. I'm always better when I'm fearful and nervous and got that stress in me."
In 1995, the Dundalk Scratch Cup was Harrington’s first event of the season. He arrived at the 18th needing a par to win and his mind was far from focused.
"The last hole in Dundalk is awkward in that you can hit a variety of shots off the tee. I was confused with what club to hit and confused with how I should swing, and it was a classic example of choking under pressure," he told Kimmage.
From the tee Harrington drove the ball into the trees on the right, then duffed his recovery from a reasonable lie, but was fortunate to catch a branch and avoid the bunkers protecting the green.
"I was still in the rough, which meant I had no control over the third shot but I managed to hit it to a foot. And the amount of people who thought that was brilliant and came up to me afterwards and said 'Wow, what balls!' And me having choked like a good thing!! And that's when you realise that a lot of people, it's not that they don't know what they're talking about, but they are making judgments without The Information.”
He also acknowledged the “up and down” was further evidence that he had what it took to become a professional. Harrington went on to win the Irish Amateur Open Championship and the Irish Close Championship, as well as capturing the Walker Cup with Great Britain & Ireland, before he turned professional in September 1995. He won his first professional tournament, the 1996 Spanish Open, the following year in what was only his 10th start on the European Tour.
In 2007 he became only the second Irish player to win one of golf’s major titles when he won The Open Championship at Carnoustie, which he then retained the following year at Royal Birkdale, shortly before he also won the USPGA Championship at Oakland Hills. A former six-time European Ryder Cup player and 2021 Captain, Harrington was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024.
When Harrington last played the 18th hole at Dundalk in 1995 it was known as Ceann Scribe or “Journey’s End”. Back then it marked the moment when Harrington knew his journey as an amateur was over. In 2025, Dundalk Golf Club marked the 30th anniversary of him winning the Carroll Cup by renaming the 18th hole, “Harrington’s Challenge”, in acknowledgement of the part the hole played on the road to his many outstanding career achievements.
