Go for the green: Irish players continue to star in the world stage

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Video: Harrington takes you on a tour of Ireland

Green beer, shamrocks and leprechauns -- that's what most people think about when St. Patrick's Day rolls around. Not the folks at PGATOUR.COM, though.

Padraig Harrington (WireImage)

St. Patrick admittedly did the world a service when he drove the snakes from Ireland. Playing classics like Royal County Down, Ballybunion and Royal Portrush is difficult enough without trying to avoid riling up the slithery, slimy creatures when your ball strays into the gorse.

With parades and celebrations held literally around the world, it seems that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. So on this day that honors the patron saint of Ireland, we decided to take the opportunity to spotlight five of the best golfers ever from the Emerald Isle.

And what better place to start than with the modern-day Paddy himself?

Padraig Harrington -- The current Open Championship holder isn't one to go overboard on the Guinness on St. Patrick's Day -- or any other day, for that matter. No word on whether he's moved to dance an Irish jig, either. The field now consists of 79 players from 21 countries.

Harrington found his own personal pot of gold last summer, though, when he beat Sergio Garcia in a four-hole aggregate playoff to break a 60-year Irish drought at the Open Championship. The soft-spoken Dubliner overcame a double-bogey on the 72nd hole when he twice hit into the Barry Burn to seal the win, which was his third on the PGA TOUR and 18th worldwide.

Fred Daly -- Prior to Harrington's win, Fred Daly was the only Irishman from either side of the border to win the Open Championship. He was 36 in 1947 when he won the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake -- and the witty Daly said in his acceptance speech that he hoped the change of air would help the silver chalice when he took it home. He was second to Henry Cotton in his 1948 title defense, then tied for second in 1950, fourth in 1951 and third in 1952. Daly played in four Ryder Cups and won the British Matchplay three times, including in 1953 when he needed 12 extra holes to win his second round match against Alan Poulton and 10 minutes later embarked on a match with Peter Alliss which he won 6 and 5 in an hour and 50 minutes. The pro at Balmoral for more than four decades, Daly was awarded the MBE in 1983 and died seven years later after suffering a heart attack in Belfast.

Darren Clarke has recorded two wins in the World Golf Championships. (WireImage)

Christy O'Connor Sr. -- The son of an Irish farmer, O'Connor Sr., turned pro in 1946 and went on to win 24 times on the European Tour. He was regarded as a natural talent, and one of his contemporaries, Lee Trevino, once said, "To me, only three players have looked entirely natural swinging a golf club -- Christy, Roberto de Vicenzo and Neil Coles. Christy flows through the ball like fine wine." O'Connor, whose nephew and namesake is a highly regarded pro in his own right, represented Great Britain and Ireland in 10 straight Ryder Cups. Perhaps his biggest victory came when he steamrolled Dow Finsterwald 7 and 6 in singles in 1957 as the GB&I team ended 24 years of American dominanation with a three-point win at Lindrick, England.

Harry Bradshaw -- Bradshaw, a close friend of O'Connor, was a 10-time Irish professional champ between 1941 and '57, as well as the Irish Open winner in 1947 and '49. He and O'Connor teamed to win the 1958 Canada Cup (now the World Cup), and Bradshaw finished second individually despite having nosebleeds due to the altitude. A two-time British Masters champ, Bradshaw lost a playoff to Bobby Locke in the 1949 Open Championship at Royal St. George's. He might have won outright had it not been for a drive on the fifth hole of the second round that landed in the bottom half of a broken bottle. Bradshaw elected to play the shot, rather than take a drop, and the ball only moved a few feet. Locke ended up beating him by 12 strokes in the 36-hole playoff.

Darren Clarke -- Clarke is one of the most well-liked of all Irish golfers on either side of the pond. He has won twice in the United States, both of those coming at World Golf Championships which bring together the best players from around the globe, and 12 times internationally, including seven times on the European Tour. The first of his PGA TOUR wins came when he beat his good friend, Tiger Woods in the finale of the 2000 Accenture Match Play Championship after dispatching David Duval in the semifinals. He also won the Bridgestone Invitational two years later and remains the only player, besides Woods, with multiple wins in the World Golf Championships. Clarke played in his fifth Ryder Cup just a month after his wife, Heather, lost a lengthy battle with breast cancer. The Captain's Pick produced a 3-0-0 record for the victorious Europeans and was the emotional epicenter of the team.