Padraig Harrington clinched a dramatic win in the USPGA Championship at Oakland Hills and then set his sights on the Ryder Cup and his next major victory.

Harrington is hot and he doesn't want his form to cool before the Masters in April when Tiger Woods is set to return from the knee surgery that kept him out of the Open Championship and the PGA.

In the world No1's absence, Harrington has become only the fourth player after Walter Hagen (1924), Nick Price (1994) and Woods (2000 and 2006) to win the Open and PGA Championship back-to-back.

The 36-year-old Irishman is the first European to win consecutive majors in the same year and the first to claim the PGA since Scottish-born Tommy Armour triumphed at Fresh Meadows in 1930.

And he has now won three of the last six majors, giving him the same number of titles as established great players Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson.

The set-up of Oakland Hills, with its hard and fast fairways spilling balls into thick rough, had come in for criticism.

Yet it produced a thrilling climax late last night as Harrington held off the challenge of playing partner Sergio Garcia and American Ben Curtis with his second successive round of fourunderpar 66 to win by two shots.

The Irishman edged ahead by sinking an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-three 17th before ramming in a 15-footer to save par at the last for a three-under total of 277.

Spaniard Garcia, bidding for his first major title, bogeyed two of the last three holes for a 68 and a tie for second with Curtis, who came in with a 71.

Recalling a clutch of crucial putts down the stretch, Harrington said: "I think I was willing them into the hole at that stage. The adrenaline and the pressure help at that point. You have to get focused and give it a go."

Garcia, who produced inspired golf for much of the round, drew on the positives after securing his 14th top-10 finish in a major championship. After lipping out his birdie attempt from four feet at the 17th, he shrugged and said: "That's the way it goes. The good thing is I felt good out there."

Curtis, surprise winner of the 2003 Open at Royal St George's, held a one-shot lead when the storm-delayed third round was completed earlier in the day and briefly forged three ahead by rolling in a seven-foot birdie putt at the opening hole. His consolation was securing a Ryder Cup debut for the United States against Europe at Valhalla in Kentucky next month.

As for Harrington, he was coming to terms with the achievement of winning back-to-back majors in the same year, a feat that eluded great European players such as Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

"Things like that take time to sink in," he said. "To believe that I achieved something that they haven't is very special."

American Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger now knows eight of his 12-man team: Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Curtis and Boo Weekley. Azinger will announce his four picks on 2 September.

Garcia is now assured of a place in Faldo's team to defend the Ryder Cup on 19-21 September. Ninth place in the PGA lifts Justin Rose into the top 10 in the Ryder Cup rankings who would earn automatic qualification.