BRITISH OPEN:HOW WILL the 137th British Open be remembered? One thing is for sure: it will be for those who were there, not for those who weren't.

Pádraig Harrington, for one, ensured that this major - one without Tiger Woods, and played over a windswept links that examined every shot in a golfer's armoury - produced the worthiest champion, the Dubliner retaining the title with a stunningly impressive final round that moved him into an elite club of back-to-back winners.

The 283rd stroke of Harrington's championship was also the simplest, a two-inch tap-in for par. It gave him a final round 69 - backboned by a magnificent back nine that saw him complete the last six holes in birdie-par-birdie-par-eagle-par - to finish four strokes clear of England's Ian Poulter, with Greg Norman and Henrik Stenson two shots further back in a share of third.

On yet another day when strong winds whipped across the sand hills, Harrington - again - proved most up to the task. If the romantics in the crowd greeted Norman with an extra loud roar as he walked onto the first tee for his 2.20pm tee-time, the roar that met Harrington was every bit as vociferous.

In these parts, they adore their British Open champions; and the fact that the galleries were augmented by a huge Irish travelling contingent ensured that every step of Harrington's quest for victory was met with encouragement from outside the ropes. However, it is only the player inside the ropes who can actually fashion such a win, and nobody was more up to the task than the defending champion.

Within two holes, the two-shot advantage 53-year-old Norman carried to the first tee had disappeared. By the time the two players walked off the third green, where Harrington made a superb sand save for par, the pendulum had swung to the younger man. Norman had recorded his third successive bogey and, suddenly, he was cast in the role of pursuer.

On the par-four sixth hole, which proved to be the toughest of all throughout the week, Norman - playing army golf, driving into the left rough and then finding the right rough with his recovery - again leaked shots and a bogey five left him two behind Harrington.

If we thought Harrington would simply move away from the Aussie, it was not to be. Golf, especially in the final round of a major, always asks tough questions and Harrington endured a dodgy mid-round period when he had three bogeys in succession from the seventh to the ninth, where he got a break when his approach missed the green but also finished short of the gorse bushes waiting to devour his ball. He escaped with a bogey. And that was to be Harrington's last blemish. On the back nine, his play was exemplary.

Poulter was making a charge, the Englishman's feisty run home greeted by loud roars around the links that left Harrington in no doubt that someone was ensuring it was more that a two-man battle for the title. When Poulter birdied the 16th, to move to seven over, he was - at that stage - in a three-way tie for the lead with Harrington and Norman. Crucially, though, Poulter failed to birdie either of the two par fives, the 15th and the 17th, while Harrington had both to play.

Harrington, in fact, regained the lead on his own with a birdie on the 13th, where he hit a five-iron approach to 15 feet and sank the putt for his first birdie of the round. Then, on the 544 yards par five 15th, he found the green in two and proceeded to two-putt for a birdie to move two shots clear of Poulter - now on the practice range, anticipating a play-off - and three ahead of Norman. For the first time, Harrington had the scent of victory in his nostrils.

The best was yet to come, however. Harrington played a five-wood off the 17th tee and, faced with 249 yards to the pin, took the same club from his bag for the approach shot. "It's my favourite club of all," he later remarked. Nobody could argue. With the neat fairway wood, he smashed his approach to three feet and rolled in the eagle putt. The shot was that of a champion, and worthy of closing the deal.

Unlike a year ago, when he twice walked down the 18th fairway at Carnoustie with enormous pressure on his shoulders and unable to savour the acclaim of the galleries, yesterday's walk down the final hole was stress-free. Using a three-wood off the tee, taking the out-of-bounds down the right out of play, Harrington found the fairway and then, adrenalin flowing, hit a five-iron approach of 194 yards through the crosswind to the green. Two putts later, and he was in possession of the Claret Jug for another 12 months.

"I'm really thrilled with the way I felt today on the golf course. I hit the ball as pure as I could, and just felt really good," said Harrington. "I felt comfortable, really playing within myself . . . I was just trying to convince myself it would be my day. There was no stage I didn't get ahead of myself."

In fact, Harrington avoided looking at any scoreboards. "I have a wandering mind at times and I struggle when I get into the lead. That's why I don't watch leaderboards. I struggle when I relax. I need a little tension, something to keep me focused . . . and there's no question the weather, the wind, forced me to play one shot at a time and stay with my own game."

Crucially, even when he had that run of three bogeys in a row, Harrington retained the ability to stay with the job at hand. The result? A second major title . . . and one just as sweet as the first!