Padraig Harrington choked back tears as he paid tribute to his late father following his dramatic Open Championship victory at Carnoustie.

Harrington beat Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia in a four-hole play-off after blowing a one-shot lead on the 72nd hole with a double bogey six.

The 35-year-old Dubliner pulled out of the Open at St Andrews in 2005 when his father Paddy - a former policeman - died from cancer days before the event.

An emotional Harrington said: "I'd like to thank my mum and dad. My dad is not here but I'm sure he is looking down."

Clutching the Claret Jug, Harrington added: "I'm actually not going to put this down! I've come a long way to win the Open Championship and I'm thrilled.

"I would like to commiserate with Sergio. I know a major means so much to him and his time will come. He's a young man and there will be plenty of time for you Sergio."

Garcia began the day three shots ahead of the field and six clear of Harrington, and had an eight foot par putt on the final hole to win his first major title.

"I still don't know how that putt missed," said Garcia, who then saw Harrington quickly take command of the play-off with a birdie on the first to his bogey.

"It's tough because I don't feel like I did anything wrong," Garcia said. "I didn't miss a shot in the play-off, I hit unbelievable putts that just did not want to go in.

"That's the way it goes. I have to move on and take the positives out of it. I guess it was just not meant to be."

Harrington won the Irish PGA in a play-off last week and also became the first home winner of the Irish Open in 25 years in a play-off in May.

Six behind Garcia overnight, he closed the gap with four birdies in 11 holes but admitted he did not feel it was his day until an eagle on the 14th.

"I got a lucky break there, I thought I was going to be 30ft away and it bounced down to 15ft," Harrington said. "At no stage before that did I feel everything was going my way.

"I missed a birdie putt on 16 and things like that are not a good omen."

Harrington still led by one playing the last however, but then drove into the Barry Burn and duffed his third shot into the water as well.

"I had 229 yards and was trying to aim left, with out of bounds left, and cut it back to the green," he added. "I hit it fat.

"But once I walked up there I felt I could get it up and down. I hit a lovely pitch and that was probably the most pressure-filled putt of the day."

Garcia now needed to par the last to win but found a greenside bunker with his approach and failed to save par from eight feet.

"I never let myself think I had blown the Open," Harrington added. "If I had lost I would have struggled to come back out and be a professional golfer. It meant that much to me. It would have been incredibly hard to take.

"The 18th is the toughest finishing hole in golf. There's trouble everywhere you look. I knew it was going to be tough for Sergio to make par. He did hit a lovely putt and I thought he had holed it."

Instead it caught the edge of the hole and stayed out, and Harrington made the most of his reprieve.

"It's going to take a long time for it to settle in. There was so much going through my mind, some of it was genuine shock I had won the Open Championship.

"It's going to mean a lot for Irish golf. We celebrate all our sporting achievements, we're a great country for anyone who does well. I'm very proud of the support I get at home.

"Far more people have more belief in me than I have in myself."