Seventh second rankles Dubliner

For the seventh time this year, Padraig Harrington had to stand beside someone else and watch them receive the winner's trophy. Yesterday, though, the deed was probably harder to stomach than any other time as, for much of a drama-filled day over the West Course, it appeared it was the 30-year-old Dubliner's destiny to claim the Cisco World Matchplay championship.

Fate, however, decided on a twist. And Ian Woosnam - only called into the event when a number of top-ranked American players decided not to travel - claimed his third matchplay crown in a third different decade. Like a fine wine, little Woosie has matured with age; and, if yesterday's performance came at a time when he had started to contemplate easing back on his tour schedule, it only served to confirm the man's enduring competitive spirit.

For Harrington, defeat - by a 2 and 1 margin - rankled. "I'm disgusted with myself, to be honest," he said.

"Absolutely and totally disgusted. The ball was in my court and I was in control ... and I didn't finish the job."

The runner-up position is becoming too familiar for Harrington. The second-place finish to Woosnam was the seventh of Harrington's season, and the 16th of his career.

"The run of second places doesn't bother me in the slightest. Second can be very good some weeks, but individual tournaments like today do bother me. There have been three or four occasions that I have had my nose in front and it certainly doesn't look as if I can finish off the job. Something is changing as I am coming down the home stretch.

"Without a doubt this is happening, and I can't blame other people because it is up to me to do something. I am a reasonably patient person, but I am losing patience," he said.

Harrington's inner turmoil was accentuated by the fact that he had played some tremendous golf when under extreme pressure in the morning, 18 holes that Woosnam described as "the best golf that I have ever been involved in".

Woosnam actually covered the front nine holes in 28 strokes and it was a measure of Harrington's ability to hang in that he was only three down at the turn and then fired four successive birdies of his own to take the lead. By lunchtime, with all sorts of records falling to the two players, Harrington was two up and the momentum was with him.

"I wish we could have just kept playing, instead of going in for lunch," said Harrington. In the afternoon, the aggression was replaced by conservatism - and some loose shots crept in. Still, he was three up standing on the seventh tee when things started to turn against him. The Dubliner put his approach into the ditch and, two holes later, on the ninth, he called a penalty shot against himself - just as he did in last year's US Open in Pebble Beach - when the ball moved as he went to play his recovery shot out of trees.

What Harrington described as "two bad shots" came on the 12th and 13th (the 30th and 31st holes of the marathon battle) and from a position of strength, the Irishman was chasing the game, and proved unable to overhaul Woosnam who credited his coach Pete Cowen with rebuilding his swing over the past two-and-a-half years. It was Woosnam's first win since the 1997 Volvo PGA championship, over this same course.

"I've been saying for some time that I wanted to reduce my tour schedule, but once I start saying that, then I go out and play like that - the way that every professional wants to play. You don't want to play golf chopping and hacking your way up the fairway. That's no fun. However, I knew that my game was solid coming into this event and it seems that the tougher the course is, then the better I tend to play," said Woosnam.

In annexing the title - and adding to his successes in 1987 and 1990 - Woosnam became the first non-seeded winner of the championship since Vijay Singh in 1997. On his way to victory, he beat Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Harrington.

The win was worth £250,000 sterling to Woosnam, with Harrington having to settle for the runners-up cheque of £120,000 sterling.

Rather than financial rewards at this stage, however, Harrington is more anxious to add some titles to his name.

Yesterday was another occasion that an opportunity was allowed to slip from his grasp; and, although Woosnam played well, Harrington will look back on it as a golden chance to claim a prestigious title that wasn't taken.

Smyth wins at Castlerock; Berendt takes the honours at Cannes: Page 5