Golf: Harrington has had enough of second best

Padraig Harrington has earned more than £1m this season and is on course to finish it in his highest-ever position on both the world rankings and European Order of Merit.

But the 30-year-old Dubliner is a "disgusted" golfer at the moment - and it is easy to understand why.

By losing to Ian Woosnam in the final of the Cisco World Match Play championship Harrington took his number of second place finishes this year to seven, while his number of wins remain at none.

Some have hurt more than others and some have not hurt at all, but this one definitely hurt a lot.

The Ryder Cup star was round in a championship record-equalling 61 yesterday morning and three-up with 12 holes to play.

Then it all went horribly wrong and afterwards Harrington was asked if he was angry at the manner of the latest near-miss.

"I’m disgusted more than angry," he said. "I absolutely, totally and utterly let it slip - 100%.

"The ball was totally in my court. It was absolutely up to me, but I made it a lot easier for Ian. He was under no pressure all the way through the back nine.

"I certainly lost concentration. Why is the unanswered question. I didn’t feel tired, so no excuses there.

"The run (of second places) does not bother me in the slightest. Finishing second some weeks can be very good. But individual tournaments like this do bother me.

"There have been three or four of these. I certainly don’t feel as though I like to finish the job off. Something is changing coming down the stretch.

"Without a doubt that is happening. I am reasonably patient, but I am losing patience."

Harrington’s seven runners-up finishes this year have earned him a total of £673,690.

He lost to Vijay Singh in a play-off for the Malaysian Open in February, having been two ahead with two to play, while in Dubai he was joint second with Tiger Woods after the world No 1 double-bogeyed the closing par five.

The next second place was in the Portuguese Open, where he held or shared the lead for the first three days but ended up two behind Phil Price, then on home soil he was joint runner-up to Colin Montgomerie in the Irish Open and to Darren Clarke in the European Open.

The other came last month at the BMW International in Munich, where he was level with John Daly on the final tee, but went into water and was beaten by a birdie.

Harrington was a winner in his very first season on the circuit in 1996, but then came nine second places before he won twice more last year.

Yet while his game has unquestionably developed since then under Sam Torrance’s father Bob he badly wants to banish the bridesmaid tag again.

His luck is certainly due to change. Last year, of course, saw his disqualification from the Benson and Hedges International when five clear after it was discovered he had not signed his first round scorecard.

A month later he was fifth in the US Open after he called a penalty on himself when his ball moved as he was about to putt, then in Singapore in February he was lying second with three holes to play when the same thing happened on the fairway.

Amazingly, the same occurred again yesterday in the trees when he was two up with 10 to play. He never won another hole.