It wasn't quite the story everyone was hoping for, but Padraig Harrington managed to play better than everyone on Sunday in incredibly difficult conditions to take the Claret Jug for the second straight year. This despite the fact that there were serious questions about his injured wrist.

Harrington said he gave himself only a 75 percent chance of teeing off on Thursday, and only a 50 percent chance of finishing.

Whatever the case, on Sunday Harrington managed to shoot a blistering 32 on the back nine and finish at +3, four strokes better than Ian Poulter. Harrington is the first European since James Braid in 1905-06 to win the Open in successive years.

Considering Woods won the US Open with a torn ACL, and Harrington won the British Open with a bad wrist, one has to wonder what's in store at the PGA Championship. My prediction: some golfer wins playing in a wheelchair.

As great as Harrington's performance was, it couldn't hide the unfortunate fact that Greg Norman once again imploded on a Sunday. Although, in all honesty, at 53 years of age, he still put on an incredible performance to finish tied for 3rd. Had Norman won, he would have done something that's never been done before, a 50+ year old golfer winning a major. So the fact that he fell off on Sunday shouldn't necessarily be seen as a disaster of any kind.

One last cool story from the Open is that Chris Wood, a 20-year-old amateur from England finished tied for fifth at 10-over. We should definitely keep our eyes on him for the future.

But the question of course is: Does this major matter as much because Tiger wasn't there? I think Harrington's performance during the incredibly challenging week answers that question. Maybe Tiger would have won it, maybe he wouldn't have. But Harrington was as worthy as anyone ever has been to lift the Jug.

And even though Woods wasn't present at Royal Birkdale, it's still impressive that someone during Tiger's reign has managed to win the same major in back-to-back years.