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Padraig Harrington: Finally a major winner at the 2007 Open

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Christmas time, mistletoe and wine... a time for giving, a time for living... and the time of year when our skysports.com columnists tell you what they enjoyed in the world of sport from the past 12 months.

So what has caught our pundits' eyes this year? Read on below...

Andy Gray - Live Football

My highlight - and you have to understand this being a Scot - was going to the Stade de France and beating France 1-0. I didn't expect that at all; in fact, I thought we'd get well done.

After losing to us at Hampden Park I thought they'd be well up for the return match, but we went there and did a job on them which will stick in Scotland fans' memories. It was a very personal moment for me, but a fantastic moment for Scottish football.

Nasser Hussain
- International Cricket

I think the Twenty20 World Cup was a definite highlight - sitting in the commentary box when Yuvraj Singh hit his six sixes with Bumble going on about it was great.

Also the India Test series was excellent after a turgid West Indies series. The Windies were poor - no better than a good county side to be honest - and to see the talents of India perform so fluently was great. That series had it all. And the one-day series win was a great end to a grey summer.

Let's not forget the end to the County Championship - a fascinating battle between Sussex and Lancashire with Mark Ramprakash, the old veteran, keeping Lancashire out at the Oval being a particular highlight in a miserable, wet summer.

Stuart Barnes - Live Rugby Union and Rugby Club

It would have to be the impromptu party in Paris between the Argentine and French fans after Argentina stunned the host nation in the first game of the World Cup.

Sport celebrated as it should - it made me proud of this game we love.

Hats off to the French administration and organisation behind the tournament; their team were flops but the country was magnificent and gave us a tournament that we will never forget.

Chris Kamara - Goals on Sunday and Soccer Saturday

It has to be the game that everybody still talks about when I speak to them now - Portsmouth 7 Reading 4. It was just incredible. There will never ever be a game of football like that again, it was just something else. Chance after chance after chance. There was only about three minutes of the match that saw a lull in play in the entire match. It was a match that had absolutely everything. And more.

I was covering that match for Soccer Saturday and I was linking live to Jeff in the studio almost every couple of minutes. It was surreal. Portsmouth took a two goal lead and then Reading brought it back to 2-2 out of the blue. And then Portsmouth kicked on and goals were flying in and there were penalties in between - it was unbelievable.

Mark Roe - Golf Night

My highlight of 2007 was definitely Padraig Harrington's win at The Open Championship.

It was a very emotional win and was a huge reward for the dedication that Padraig has shown to the game.

It was also a fitting reward for one of the nicest men in sport because you simply could not meet a nicer chap than him. The Open Championship was privileged to get such a gentleman champion.

Glenn McCrory - Live Boxing

There were two real stand-outs for me. One was obvious - Ricky Hatton against Floyd Mayweather - the other may be not so. Hatton, though, was just incredible. To see one of our fighters take that many fans out to Las Vegas to take on the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world was a pleasure to see. OK, the result didn't go the way we wanted, but Ricky, true to form, kept us entertained and laughing throughout - even when he'd just been knocked out!

The other memory was also of a normal, down-to-earth guy, who is a real hero in his hometown. I will never forget being in Atlantic City the night Kelly Pavlik beat Jermain Taylor. To get up off the floor and batter the champion to defeat was in itself, something special, but the celebrations were another thing. The people of Youngstown had come in numbers and were so friendly, so enthusiastic, it made you feel privileged to be there. Pavlik is the same as them. You can stop him in the hotel lobby and he'll gladly chat away for half-an-hour, much the same as Ricky Hatton. Of course, as the song goes, there is only one Ricky Hatton. But there's also only one Kelly Pavlik.

Martin Tyler - Live Football

I suppose it's not very fashionable to finish the year with my England hat on, but 2007 will in years to come be remembered for the return to Wembley. The FA have taken a lot of stick this year but they were quite open and honest about the problems and difficulties they faced and I don't think they will make the same mistakes again.

My first visit was to see England train and even after six-and-a-half years away, the thing that struck me was that I did feel like I was walking back into Wembley again. The pitch has been moved of course and the magnificent structure is different, but it still has the size, grandeur and the feeling of the old place. There is still the sense of tradition and aura about the place - and I have arrived there via several different routes and it is still as impressive when you approach it.

England have a permanent home again as well and although the year will be remembered for failing to qualify for Euro 2008 and the change of managers, I do think that in years to come 2007 will be seen as an important landmark. From a commentator's point of view, the new facilities are certainly spacious and fingers crossed, I've had no problems so far! Also there was a great symmetry about Chelsea winning the last FA Cup final at the old Wembley and the first one at the new Wembley.

Bob Willis - Live Cricket

It is the obvious one from the world of cricket this year but it has to be the highlight because it was such an amazing achievement.

Watching Yuvraj Singh smash Stuart Broad out of the ground for 36 runs in an over was a pretty impressive effort to say the least.

I was watching it from back here in England, so I wasn't at the ground, but that was sensational batting. Poor Broad tried to mix it but Yuvraj had an answer for everything and a bit of luck too and that big heavy bat of his kept sending the ball over the ropes.

Broad won't be scarred for life and I am sure he will be remembered for other, less infamous feats in his career, but we will always remember Yuvraj's six sixes in an over.

Phil Clarke - Boots 'n' All and Live Rugby League

It has to be the drama of that last game of Millennium Magic in Cardiff in May, which in all honesty turned into Millennium Tragic for the players, officials and supporters of Bradford Bulls. Leeds were trailing in the last minute, were awarded a penalty that shouldn't have been and Kevin Sinfield stepped up but hit the post. But before the Bulls could breath a sigh of relief the ball bounced down and into the arms of Jordan Tanzey, who promptly crossed the line to give the Rhinos a 42-38 win. To make matters worse for Bradford and just to add to the drama, replays showed he was in an offside position when the penalty was struck. Major sport needs drama and incident and we got it all in a matter of seconds, it was just a shame we ended a landmark weekend talking about the officials. But it was also a sign of things to come: the ball bouncing the Rhinos way. Again, for all the great play and great coaching that goes towards winning things, that is something that makes a big difference at the highest level.

Ewen Murray - Live Golf

There was so much to enjoy in what has been a fabulous golfing year and my highlight would be the win in the fourth major of Tiger Woods. Having lost out in the Masters and the US Open which was followed by an average performance at Carnoustie, Tiger ripped the best field of the year apart at Southern Hills to close within 5 of Jack Nicklaus's record. Tiger's dominance presents its own pressures. He is expected to perform every time he takes to the tee, and in general, he does. That's one of the reasons he is so far ahead at the top of the world rankings. A professional now for over ten years, it's his consistency that impresses me most. Just when everyone was saying his year would be major-less, he produced a stunning performance in Tulsa, which proved to the catalyst in claiming the inaugural FedEx Cup. As each year goes by, his dominance increases, which proves his golf is better than anyone's, but more than that, he has a burning desire to reach perfection. Once again he has set a level that so far, no one can match. We are privileged to have him at the top of our sport.

Kevin Cadle - Live NFL

What stood out for me in the NFL was the case of Tony Dungy.

He lost his son to suicide but somehow he managed to keep himself and his team focussed and became the first black coach to win the Super Bowl.

For me that proved we are talking about a guy with a lot of dignity and pride.

It was a great season in the NFL but to see Tony conduct himself so well in the face of tragedy, keep his Colts going and then to make history was easily the stand-out.

Phil Thompson - Champions League Live and Soccer Saturday

My highlight of 2007 would have to be Liverpool's away victory in Barcelona. Very biased I know, but Barcelona were the Champions of Europe and favourites to retain their Champions League title, and Liverpool were given very little chance of getting a result. Playing at the Camp Nou is difficult at the best of times, but that night Liverpool put on an absolutely magnificent performance.

The Craig Bellamy-John Arne Riise golf club incident that happened beforehand didn't help the preparation, but probably did help the situation. This kind of thing galvanises teams. You do have arguments and play with people who you don't get along with, but once you get out there on the pitch you'll do anything possible to make sure you win.

And that's what happened in that particular game as Bellamy and Riise got the goals that won the match. I wasn't out there - I watched it on Sky Sports - but Liverpool have been to the Camp Nou quite a few times in the last few years and we've always put up a decent performance. A lot of times it has been backs-to-the-wall stuff, but this was different: Liverpool took the game to Barcelona - Deco, Messi, Ronaldinho and all - and it was a fantastic display. Beating the Spanish champions in their own back yard would have been a feather in Rafa Benitez's cap.

Miles Harrison - Live Rugby Union

If I am allowed two I would take two. It is impossible to narrow down what was the best thing to come out of the World Cup. The way it was organised and presented by France was superb, the performances by the less fancied nations were fantastic, led by Argentina which was a great story. And of course the story of England reaching the final, from being beaten 36-0 by South Africa to playing the same team in final. Nobody scripted that! The 2007 World Cup was a great experience as a whole and that is what it should be. There is no stand-out, singular moment to remember, just the tournament as a whole.

Aside from that you cannot belittle something as unique as an all-English Heineken Cup final. It was just an amazing thing to see at Twickenham. A big, big event and a match to remember in as much as everyone thought Leicester would win it, because of what they had done to Gloucester, and Wasps again proved - and I do like it when sport is unpredictable - that nothing is certain in sport. What struck me most was the way Wasps approached the game and executed a very clever plan. It was one of the most impressive moments of the rugby year. Professional and well-executed.

Matt Le Tissier - Soccer Saturday

It has to be watching the football Arsenal have produced throughout 2007. That fluid, one-touch passing and the fabulous movement off the ball really has been the highlight for me over the past 12 months.

And it's not just this season, because the signs were there towards the tail-end of last season, not least in the Carling Cup. Arsene Wenger has built some fabulous sides in his time there, but I do think this pass-and-move game they've got going right now is easily as good as anything I've seen from them before.

To get 14 or 15 players to play that way is one thing, but Arsenal's shadow sides do it as well, so to get say 20 to 30 players doing it really is a remarkable achievement. I saw them play Derby County this season and they were out of this world. They won 6-0 and it could have been 12. Easily. That will stay in mind as one of the best performances I have seen for a long, long time.

Sid Waddell - Live Darts

My highlight for 2007 would have to be the amazing way James Wade carried over his form from a win in Blackpool to a win in Dublin last summer. That was simply Taylor-esque or Barney-esque. He went through a field that included both Taylor and Barney twice within 10 weeks and that was sensational.

For a guy of 24 that showed amazing composure and self-belief. To play one and then pick up where you've left off two months later was my highlight of the season. And he celebrated by going out and buying a really ritzy car for about 35 grand!

Dewi Morris - Live Rugby and Rugby Club

It's not your normal sort of highlight but I thought it was quite hilarious.

Referee Sean Davey was reaching for a card in the Guinness Premiership match between London Irish and Gloucester in round six this season, but instead of finding his yellow he pulled out a handkerchief.

Intentional or otherwise it was a comedy moment with brilliant timing and the player in trouble was just given a ticking off. I laughed my socks off.

Keith Arthur - Tight Lines

From an angling perspective the highlight of my year was helping Jimmy Bullard, Fulham's midfield dynamo, attain his ambition of catching one of Britain's most sought-after coarse fish species, the barbel. Not only did he manage it at the very first attempt but he did it for the Sky Sports Soccer Saturday cameras. I'd arranged special permission to fish the Gerrards Cross and Uxbridge AS waters on the River Colne in Uxbridge, a remarkable piece of water, on an island surrounded by an industrial estate.

The river was in perfect 'nick' for barbel, carrying an extra foot of water and pretty well coloured. The swim I chose for him was narrow and very fast and Jim wasn't looking that confident. This was during the lowest point of his comeback from injury, with his damaged knee in Dr Stedman's brace and leaving his mates, on this occasion me, to carry most of his tackle! Jimmy did as he was told - and that's a first - cast perfectly the spot I indicated and within half an hour his rod was bent double as a very angry barbel tried to snag him in the far-bank bushes. His nerve held though and shortly afterwards he was admiring his first-ever barbel, weighing in at a substantial 8lb 10oz. He was like a kid at Christmas, despite the inconvenience of a very bad knee.

Jimmy insisted that I had a go too, so moved a couple of swims downstream, leaving him to his own devices, and not long afterwards I was rewarded with a magnificent barbel weighing a shade over 12lb, a personal-best for me and one of the biggest ever from that section of river. That made two grown-up children for Assistant Producer Julie Collier to look after! For anyone that isn't aware, Jimmy is a top match fisherman as well as a brilliant footballer and now fishes for the most successful fishing team in Britain.

If his football team were as dominant they'd be Premier League champions and FA Cup winners! I think it was Jimmy's smile and sheer enjoyment on landing the fish that made the capture so memorable, for everyone on the bank with him that day, not just for us two.