Pádraig second on 16 occasions

THE relief of Michael Campbell and the disappointment of Pádraig Harrington lingered in the air yesterday after their amazing battle for the Smurfit European Open at The K-Club on Sunday.

While Campbell departed for Scotland, Harrington remained, attending to corporate business at Mount Juliet (where he is tournament professional). He will jump on a helicopter this morning to travel to west Clare for the eagerly awaited challenge with Greg Norman that officially opens the magnificent new Doonbeg links.

Later in the day, he will climb aboard the chopper to return to the scene of Sunday's showdown and a gig in aid of Special Olympics.

Harrington said that his failure to capitalise on Michael Campbell's four-bogey finish would not affect him.

Nevertheless, finishing second is becoming something of a habit for the 30-year-old Dubliner.

This was his 16th runner-up spot, his first this season after as many as seven in 2001. His total of actual victories in Europe is a meagre four.

There is his World Cup success of 1997 with Paul McGinley, but it all does seem a little meagre for a man of Harrington's talents and work ethic.

As he himself often points out, there are second places with which he was happy, and second places with which he was anything but.

Last year's Cisco World Match Play final against Ian Woosnam at Wentworth is a classic example of the latter. He had the little Welshman over a barrel after completing the morning 18 holes in a miraculous 11 under par 61, before the wheels came off seriously in the afternoon and he lost by two and one.

Yet, only a few weeks later, he put that reverse and several other disappointments behind with a magnificent last-green birdie triumph in the Volvo Masters at Montecastillo.

At the third round of this year's Masters at Augusta, he was in the thick of the battle until running up a double-bogey six at the 18th. Instead of being four off the pace set by Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen, he was six back and realistically out of the race. He tied for fifth.

More recently, Harrington produced the best round of the US Open, a 68 on the second day in appalling conditions that left him three behind Woods, who had played in easily the best of the weather, and four ahead of those in third spot.

Woods and Harrington were paired on the Saturday and in an unforgettable atmosphere, the American outscored the Irishman 70 to 73. No disgrace in that, and Harrington admitted on Sunday that he "felt more comfortable" in that cauldron than he did in his showdown with Campbell, largely because of a continuing difficulty in judging the length of his iron shots.

What did hurt at Bethpage Black was his double-bogey six on the 18th in the fourth round after he had driven into position A on the fairway. Just as on Sunday, he pulled his approach, ran up a double bogey and slipped from a very impressive fifth to eighth.

Again, absolutely no shame in that, but the feeling grows that Harrington is just not doing himself full justice.

Slip-ups like those at Augusta, Bethpage and The K-Club cost lots of money and perhaps more importantly, for golfers of this standard, invaluable European order-of-merit world ranking points.

A tie for second at Straffan has improved his world position from 11th to tenth, but he is still playing catch-up in the home rankings, standing seventh, some 5 million behind leader Goosen.

Victory in an event as lucrative and prestigious as the European Open would have improved both situations immeasurably.

Harrington will relax later in the week, missing the Scottish Open, but will arrive in good time to begin his preparations for the Open Championship at Muirfield on Scotland's east coast on Thursday week.

Meanwhile, Michael Smurfit fanned the flames of the 2000 Ryder Cup captaincy controversy when declaring his 100% support for an Irish leader at The K-Club in 2006.

He spoke directly by name to Ken Schofield in a speech at a players barbecue on Saturday night and made no secret of his feelings on the subject. As Smurfit is a major benefactor of the tour, Schofield will have heard his words loud and clear.

Eamonn Darcy's hat is in the ring for the job, along with Christy O'Connor Junior and Des Smyth, and three excellent candidates they are.

Trouble is and Darcy admitted as much they will all be plying their trade on the seniors tour by 2006 and indeed will not have been around the regular circuit for three years or more.