Harrington may fall short in Dubai race

IN ANY other season Padraig Harrington could be pleased with third place in his defence of the shortened Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia.

But then this is not any other season with Harrington still starting at one of his poorest-ever years.

Needing an eagle to force a play-off with Dutchman Joost Luiten, Harrington sent his second shot into thick rough on the edge of a water hazard and under the lip of a retaining wall. His chip shot was short while his birdie attempt to share second place with Sweden’s Daniel Chopra was also wide of the mark in an eventual round of 69 to be among a trio in third place on 13-under par.

Harrington was the last in the rain-shortened event to leave the scorer’s hut and immediately phoned in his disappointment to his wife Caroline despite it being 4.30am yesterday morning here at home.

“When you get as close as I did it’s always disappointing not to win but I had good chances there on 16 and 18 to maybe force the play-off but it didn’t happen,” he said. “I was okay with the start to be two-under par after nine but I got a back break on 11 and then missed a putt on 12 and then the two shots at 16 and 18, there’s four shots on the back nine.

“I know I will be thinking about them a lot before I go to sleep on the flight tonight. The biggest disappointment is that a birdie at the last would have got me into the Race to Dubai and while I’ll take sharing third, the move on the Race to Dubai is near irrelevant.

“I’m still about €50,000 short. In any other year a third place is not bad and I would be happy with that but in the bigger picture, and when I reflect back on the week, I should have been so many shots better this week.

Harrington’s prize cheque of €76,000 lifts him from 76th to 65th on the Race to Dubai but still five places shy of his goal of being inside the top-60 to qualify for the December 8 season ending Dubai World Championship. Harrington is more than €36,000 behind 60th ranked Stephen Gallacher and will likely to need a top-five finish in Fanling to be absolutely sure of extending his season by another week.

Harrington’s European Tour winless streak now stands a run of 49 events over the past three years and three months.

His next event will be the December 1 Hong Kong Open.

Peter Lawrie carded a 67 for a share of 29th place on six under par while a palm tree branch spoilt Michael Hoey’s hope of posting three sub par rounds. Hoey was well placed down the right side of the 18th and had a six iron in his hand to attack the island-like green.

However Hoey’s second shot only just clipped a palm leaf and with his ball falling short into the water.

Meanwhile South African Garth Mulroy avoided a repeat of the nightmare finish by Ernie Els four years ago to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek in South Africa. Like Els, the 33-year-old came to the par-five last with a two-stroke lead, but unlike Els, who put two balls in the water for a triple-bogey eight, he made no mistake.

Mulroy captured his first European Tour title when a closing par gave him a two-shot victory over Scotland’s George Murray with a 19 under par total.

Race to Dubai after Alfred Dunhill Championship and Johor Open: 1 L Donald £3,272,234, 2 M Kaymer £2,401,541, 3 R McIlroy £2,312,121, 4 C Schwartzel £1,922,347, 5 L Westwood £1,700,846, 6 A Hansen £1,475,488, 7 S Garcia (Spa) £1,341,299, 8 T Bjorn £1,287,540, 9 S Dyson £1,225,738, 10 D Clarke £1,170,534, 11 M A Jimenez £1,124,456, 12 A Noren £1,050,738, 13 G McDowell £954,824, 14 L Oosthuizen £933,746, 15 G Fernandez-Castano £904,907, 16 P Larrazabal £895,796, 17 N Colsaerts £856,331, 18 J Luiten £808,886, 19 A Quiros £807,407, 20 T Aiken £804,773.