Fortune does not favour Harrington

Bravery? Guts? Courage? Fortune doesn't always favour the brave. Padraig Harrington, on his 26th birthday, exemplified the attributes that a general normally demands of his foot soldiers, but was denied the desired rewards for his trojan efforts when the BMW International Open concluded at Munich yesterday.

Instead, Sweden's Robert Karlsson, a player with no ancillary targets such as possible Ryder Cup selection, pocketed the £125,000 winner's cheque, and his second European Tour win, beating Carl Watts at the third sudden death hole. The duo had finished tied on 24-under-par 264, the lowest total on the European Tour this season.

On a day when the Golfclub Munchen NordEichenried course was again torn asunder, the sound of static electricity in the overhead pylons matching the nature of the scoring, the subplot of the Ryder Cup shenanigans provided much intrigue, most of it centred around Harrington's ultimately vain bid.

In the end, Harrington, who shot a final round 68 for 19under-par 269, finished tiedninth, without the tournament victory and without his ticket to Valderrama.

"I'm very disappointed, but I tried very hard. People keep telling me that I'll benefit from being involved in this situation. I hope so. We'll see," he commented.

Pressure? Like the sound of cackling electricity, it was in the air everywhere yesterday. John O'Reilly, his veteran caddie, betrayed his emotions at the sixth green when he muttered: "I wish to jaysus this was all over."

But, as Harrington remarked: "There is only a certain level that the pressure factor can reach, and there is enough trying to win a tournament."

Yet, Harrington's jovial demeanour on the course, joking when he sought a ruling on the 12th green where a wriggling earthworm was in his line, and elsewhere, chatting with O'Reilly and playing partner Gary Orr, suggested he had won that particular pressure battle.

The war was out of his hands, though. Saturday's third round 71 proved too heavy a burden to carry, certainly in terms of winning the tournament, and the Ryder Cup place proved tantalisingly evasive. The scoring was red-hot, and Colin Montgomerie observed: "It's not very often you go out and shoot a final round 66, and drop back. Anyone who beats me when I shoot 23-under-par deserves to win."

As things transpired, Harrington required a 62 yesterday (a feat attained, admittedly, by Greg Turner, albeit playing as an early bird with little or no pressure) to actually win the tournament. But, with the adrenalin flowing, and his pumped-up approach shots leaving him to rely on his exquisite short game to salvage pars over the closing stretch, that wasn't really on.

The place on Europe's Ryder Cup team was, however, very much attainable - although Harrington would have needed to better yesterday's score by three shots to leapfrog over Miguel Angel Martin.

Still, it was possible, and a three-putt from five feet at the ninth (a birdie transforming nightmarishly into a bogey, effectively a two-shot swing) proved particularly annoying. "An unfortunate time, an unfortunate week for it to happen," he later mused.

That three-putt was the only blemish on Harrington's card. Indeed, the time spent on the putting green on Saturday evening with his coach, Howard Bennett, was justified. The rhythm and balance was back, exhibited by a hat trick of birdies from the fourth, where he sank a 30-footer.

The homeward run proved a touch frustrating, but his putting never let him down. In fact, Harrington had just 12 putts - six of them singles - on the back nine. But there were just two birdies, at the 11th and 13th, and on four successive occasions, from the 14th, he had to get up-and-down from over the back of greens in order to save par.

And, when his eight-foot birdie putt slipped by at the last hole, Harrington knew it wasn't to be his day. "I thought 67 or 68 might be enough, but it wasn't even close," said Harrington.

"Who knows? In two years time it could be different. But I won't be able to try any harder than I did this time round, because I did give it all I had. I'll just have to improve as a golfer," he added, philosophically.

The pressure of winning was all that occupied Karlsson's mind, and even that didn't unduly ruffle the cool, clean Swede. "When I won the Mediterranean Open in 1995, I also carried a one-shot lead into the last round," he said. "So I was familiar with the situation."

Nevertheless, Karlsson had to produce a birdie-birdie finish to tie with Watts, a player nine days older than Harrington who has finally shed the journeyman tag.

The play-off, however, was determined by a poor tee-shot off the 18th by Watts, who started the week in 149th on the moneylist but quadrupled his season's earnings in one fell swoop. Apart from collecting a runner's-up prize of £83,320, he also ensured his card for next season.

However, his drive at the third play-off hole found water and he was unable to salvage par. Nonplussed, he remarked: "I'm a happier man now than I was at the start of the week. I've learned a lot, learned to compete and hopefully I can go on now and actually win a tournament."

While Harrington led the Irish challenge - his tied-ninth finish earned £15,180 - there were rewarding finishes too for Ronan Rafferty, continuing to show good form, and Christy O'Connor Junior. Rafferty finished with a 67 for 18-under-par 270 (for £10,490), while O'Connor, despite starting with a bogey, had a final round 66 for 15-under-par 273 and £5,934 in prizemoney.

Paul McGinley, meanwhile, finished with a 71 for 11-under-par 277, good enough only for tied 57th place, an indication of just how good the scoring was in the last counting event towards Ryder Cup qualification.