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BRITISH OPEN 2008
Since the great Lee Trevino in 1972 only two players have managed to defend their British Open thrones.
In 1983 Tom Watson managed it and in total the Kansas City kid piked up an amazing five claret jugs.
Twenty three years later Tiger Woods won back to back opens joining the select club of defending Champions.
And for those into statistics the last European golfer to have successfully defended his title was the Scot James Braid way back in 1906.
This week at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club Ireland's Padraig Harrington aims to follow in the footsteps of Woods, Watson, Trevino and Braid but he more than anyone else knows that doing so will be amazingly difficult.
Nursing an injured right wrist the Open Champion will have it all to do if he's to challenge for the top honour but he's determined to give it his best shot at the Lancashire course.
Harrington's injury came last weekend when he played in the Irish PGA Championship, an event he won for the fifth time on Saturday.
GOLF
As sure as night follows day Nick Faldo has been plodding along in the world of golf in a top-flight career which stretches back well over three decades.
But now the European Ryder Cup captain, aged 50, says he will not compete in this year's Open at Royal Birkdale.
It is the first time since he failed to qualify as an amateur in 1975 that the three-times former champion will not play in the tournament.
Faldo has left the door open for a future appearance at the tournament, but said he preferred to concentrate on his Ryder Cup duties this year.
"I will play The Open again, but this year I need to concentrate," he said.
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Milton Keynes based Ian Poulter pulled out all the stops yesterday to capture the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament trophy in Japan.
It's the first win of the season for the 31 year old English man who shot a 69 on the final day to see off the challenges of Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez Castano as well as fellow countryman Luke Donald and local hope Shingo Katayama.
Poulter's win was the ninth of his career, but his first outside Europe.
"I've felt comfortable all week this week. It would be nice to know exactly why because if you could do that every week, you could get into that winning position every week" said Poulter.
FINAL LEADERBOARD:
-11 I Poulter (Eng)
-8 G Fernandez Castano (Sp)
-7 L Donald (Eng), S Katayama (Jp)
-5 P Harrington (Ire)
