Harrington and Clarke left to rue missed chances

If Colin Montgomerie's prediction had come true, Padraig Harrington would have won the British Open by a shot yesterday. And Darren Clarke would have been second. But the big Scot is no soothsayer, and his prophecy that a score of 300 could win the championship proved to be wildly off the mark.

So, Harrington was left to rue the consequences of a disastrous bogey-par-bogey-double bogey finish. "Quite appalling," lamented the Dubliner of the closing holes that ruined a card which, at one stage, had lifted him to within a stroke of a top-10 position. Even a place in the top 15 would have given him the consolation of exemption into next year's Millennium Open at St Andrews.

Instead, Harrington signed for a final round 74 - and a 72-holes total of 15-over-par 299 - which gave him 29th place, one ahead of Darren Clarke who finished his Open championship with a closing round of 73 for 300. "It was the worst round of putting I've ever had," said Harrington.

The home run proved to be costly. When Harrington hit a nine iron approach to eight feet at the 11th and sank the birdie putt to move to 11-over-par for the championship, he was backing into a top-10 finish. However, his failure to birdie the 14th - the easiest hole on the course - set a trend that was to leave the Irishman mentally drained and exasperated.

If Harrington's bogeys at the 15th, where a five-footer horseshoed out, and the 17th, where an eight-footer refused to drop, brought him over par for his round, his fate was sealed on the 18th. A perfect drive down the middle of the fairway landed in a divot. Using a three-iron into the breeze, he caught it fat and the ball lurched left and beyond the out-of-bounds fence. He finished with a double bogey six.

Clarke's championship also ended in disappointment. It finished three-and-a-half hours earlier than he would have liked: Clarke was playing the last as the final pairing were heading down the adjoining first fairway. And his final act of a disappointing championship was to sink a sixfoot bogey putt.

"I'm a wee bit disappointed," said Clarke in an understated way. "I actually played quite well today, but got nothing back from the course."

Clarke's bogey on the 18th could have been a lot worse. His approach missed the green left and was only inches away from being out-of-bounds. Hampered on his backswing by a fence, he played a recovery shot one-handed with his putter but the ball shot across the green into rough on the far side and he ended up making a good up-and-down for his bogey.

While Harrington intends to take a week's break, and will miss the Dutch Open, Clarke intends to play this week's Dutch Open and the Smurfit European Open before taking off the week before the US PGA.