Padraig Harrington won his second consecutive British Open last Sunday, the first player to accomplish that particular feat since Tiger Woods in 2005 and 2006.

The last player to double-up at the British before that?

Tom Watson in 1982 and 1983. No Major tournament is as consistently inconsistent, as predictably unpredictable as the British. Harrington's final 283, 3-over-par, was 4 strokes better than runner-up Ian Poulter's 287. Fan-favorite Greg Norman finished tied for third with a 9-over 289.

Greg Norman was Tin Cup before Tin Cup, before Phil Mickelson, before anybody. The dashing, swashbuckling Aussie never met a shot he didn't like or conditions he didn't believe he could buckle through shear force of will. The problem of course, for Norman, was he was so often wrong.

Sunday was no exception.

With winds gusting up to 50 mph throughout the day, Norman far too often challenged the Royal Birkdale course, bogeying the first three holes out of the gate and another five through the rest of his round. It would have been painful if Norman weren't so darn gracious about the whole thing, gritting his teeth and gamely answering the knuckleheaded "How does it feel THIS time?" questions after yet another Major meltdown.

Tied or in sole possession of first place after 54 holes, Norman has seen seven of eight Major Championships slip through his fingers. You think golf makes YOU crazy?! Most people would have wrapped a 7-iron around their own necks. Not Norman. The guy was playing this particular British Open while on his honeymoon!

Absolutely nuts.

Speaking of nuts…

I was watching the ESPY's earlier tonight and I couldn't help but notice that the two best stories didn't even take into account the final score of a single game, didn't define winners or losers in the strictest sense of the word.

The Best Moment Award went to three young women, forever linked by a single game of collegiate softball. When Sarah Tucholsky, a senior playing for Western Oregon, launched the first and only homerun of her career over the outfield wall, she was so stunned, so overcome with joy, that she briefly slowed after rounding first, unsure she'd touched the bag, and started to turn back, you know, just in case.

And then her ACL blew out. And she crawled, unable to stand, back to first, and hugged the bag in her arms.

Arcane, silly, ridiculous NCAA rules apparently prevented a pinch-runner from finishing her victory-lap. So there she was, all five feet of her, stuck on first, the only homerun of her life stolen from her by a dirty twist of fate and the inmates running the asylum at NCAA headquarters.

Until two players from the opposing Central Washington team, of their own volition, with no prompting whatsoever, approached the ump, posed a simple question, and carried Sarah around the bases, stopping at each so she could gingerly drop her one good leg to the bag, all the way home.

Poetry.

My other favorite moment was watching Kevin Everett walk, unaided, onstage to receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. Everett was the Buffalo Bills special-teamer who broke his neck in the first week of last season covering a kickoff and was told by just about everybody who knew anything about this sort of thing that his walking days were pretty much behind him.

Sometimes, it's a good idea not to listen to the people who know better.

The rest of the show was fine, of course. There was a nice tribute to Brett Favre; he won the award for Best Record Breaking Performance for passing Dan Marino as the all-time leader in touchdowns thrown. The whole ongoing quarterback nightmare in Green Bay managed to steal a little bit of the luster from the presentation, but only a little.

Basketball player Candace Parker won the award for Best Female Athlete. If there'd been an award for most classically sculpted athlete, she probably would've won that, too. Wow.

And even the Redskins managed to sneak into the show, trading a 2009 second-round pick and 2010 sixth-round pick to the Dolphins for defensive-end Jason Taylor. Phillip Daniels' blown ACL on the first day of training camp put the 'Skins in acquisition mode, and Messrs. Snyder and Cerrato managed to land the biggest fish out there that was still available.

Will he push them over the top? Only time will tell. But he can't hurt.

And at least we know he can dance.

You can always reach Alex Cudaback at cuda24@yahoo.com