Harrington shoots to European top spot

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON can at last call himself the number one player in Europe after his exciting one-shot victory in the BMW Asian Open in Taiwan.

The Irishman shot straight to the top of the Volvo Order of Merit after what was officially the first event of the 2003 season.

While Harrington would have preferred to have hit the top spot three weeks ago when he was pipped at the post by Retief Goosen for the 2002 money list title he was still delighted to have regained his focus and begun the season so positively.

"It's great and finally, European number one," he said. "It's nice to start like this and it's always good when you win. I'm happy because I came here to win the BMW Asian Open.

"Last season I played badly in the last three events because I was trying to win the Volvo Order of Merit and I was not focused enough to win the individual events. This week, I came out just looking to win this and thankfully, I did."

Harrington claimed the €270,000 first prize with a last-round 69 for a 15-under-par total of 273, one better than India's Jyoti Randhawa.

It was his sixth tour title, and his first in Asia, but at one stage he seemed intent on throwing away what seemed a straightforward coast over the finishing line. Clear of the chasing pack after five birdies and just a single bogey in the first 15 holes, Harrington first found water off the 16th tee with a 314-yard three-wood.

He managed to get up and down for a par, but left a straightforward chip shot 20 feet short on the next, from where he could only make bogey.

That left him with just a one-shot cushion playing the 18th, a very difficult par three, and he looked to be stumbling towards a play-off when he blocked a six-iron right of the green.

A mediocre chip then left him with a 10-foot putt up the hill for the title, and after the ball scraped into the hole with virtually its last roll, the relief felt by Harrington was plain to see.

Harrington explained: "In the last couple of holes, I was thinking that pars would be good enough and obviously, when you get into that frame of mind, you struggle to make pars.

"I had a tough lie on the 18th and then I had to putt through a double-break. It was good to hole that putt," he said.