He stopped yesterday to share the moment with Greg Norman, who knows this path all too well.

Celebration for one, sympathy for the other.

"I did say to him coming down 18 that I was sorry it wasn't his story that was going to be told," Harrington said. "I did feel that, but I wanted to win myself. In this game, you have to take your chances when you get them."

Harrington seized his opportunity by smashing a pair of fairway metals into the par 5s that carried him to a 32 on the back nine of blustery Royal Birkdale and made him Europe's first player in more than a century to win the British Open two years in a row.

"Obviously, winning a major puts you in a special club," Harrington said after closing with a 1-under 69 to win by 4 shots over Ian Poulter. "Winning two of them puts you in a new club altogether."

Norman got a chance no one saw coming.

Still on his honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert, at 53 only a part-time golfer with no expectations, the Shark found himself with a 2-shot lead going into the final round and still 1 shot ahead with nine holes to play.

It ended like so many other majors for Norman - a quick succession of bogeys, the clutch shots belonging to someone else. He made eight bogeys in gusts that reached 40 m.p.h., closed with a 77 and tied for third.

"Where does it rank in those? Probably not as high as some of the other ones," Norman said of the six other times he lost a 54-hole lead in a major. "Quite honestly, I'm sure I surprised a lot of people."

So did Harrington.

The 36-year-old Irishman injured his right wrist eight days ago, and it was so sore that he could practice for only nine holes on Tuesday and for three swings on the eve of his title defense.

He gave himself a 75 percent chance of starting, 50 percent of finishing.

Turns out that wrist was strong enough to hit all the right shots. Better yet, it was strong enough to lift the Claret Jug.

Harrington took the lead on the par-3 12th when Norman missed a 10-foot par putt. Then came a late charge from Poulter, who made a 15-foot birdie on the 16th and saved par with a 15-footer on the final hole for a 69 that looked like it might be good enough to win.

But the Irishman responded with clutch shots of his own. He hit a 3-wood into the wind to 40 feet on the par-5 15th and got down in two putts for birdie, giving him a 2-shot lead. Standing in the 17th fairway, still aware that Norman could make eagle and stay in the game, Harrington hit a 5-wood that bounded onto the green and up the ridge, stopping four feet away for eagle.

That gave him a 4-shot lead, and he knew it was over when his tee shot found the 18th fairway.

What a change from last year, when Harrington made double bogey on the 18th hole, got into a playoff only when Sergio Garcia couldn't save par, and couldn't celebrate at Carnoustie until a testy three-footer for par on the last hole of overtime.

"I enjoyed the Claret Jug so much, I didn't want to give it back," Harrington said.

He finished at 3-over 283, becoming the first European since James Braid in 1905-06 to win the Open in successive years.

Norman played a familiar role as the tragic figure.

He lost his 2-shot lead after the third hole and wound up in a tie for third with Henrik Stenson, who shot 71. The 77 was 1 shot better than the last time Norman led a major, closing with a 78 in the 1996 Masters.

"I walk away from here disappointed, but with my head held high, because I hung in there," Norman said.

Norman tried to keep alive his hopes with a 35-foot par putt on the 14th, and a shot from a pot bunker that made him spin backward, turning to see the ball land four feet away at the 15th for his only birdie of the day. Harrington, however, didn't back down.

What an amazing week for the Shark - spending his honeymoon in Skibo Castle, showing up at Royal Birkdale to tune up for the Senior British Open and Senior U.S. Open, then feeling those old competitive juices.

Fans perched themselves atop every sand dune to see if Norman could pull off a victory that would have ranked among the most stunning in golf, from Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters at age 46 to Ben Hogan returning from a life-threatening car crash to win the U.S. Open.

But it wasn't to be.