Tour braced for nailbiting finish

The European Tour tomorrow could see its closest finish to the Order of Merit race since 1995 – the year Colin Montgomerie sank a three-foot putt on the final green of the final event to pip fellow Scot Sam Torrance.

Four players are involved entering the last week this time and not one of them was out of the hunt at the halfway stage of the Volvo Masters at Valderrama.

Leader Paul Casey, suffering from food poisoning and – on six over par – only 35th of the 54 players, promised to do some “number crunching” to see what might be required both of him and the chasing trio.

The leading challenger now is Padraig Harrington, who moved up from 30th to ninth with a 69 yesterday and is looking to climb into the top three.

If the Dubliner can do that, Casey would have to hang on to 35th spot to deny him the money-list crown.

Should Harrington get to second place, however, Casey would have to finish third – and if Harrington wins the tournament he will also be crowned number one.

David Howell and Robert Karlsson still hope to have a say in the outcome, though.

The pair, third and fourth in the table, require a top-two finish and, although they resumed today in joint 18th spot, they were only five behind leader Henrik Stenson.

At level par, Harrington is only four back.

A three under 68 in yesterday’s demanding wind and rain handed Stenson a one-stroke advantage over another Ryder Cup team-mate Lee Westwood, who did not know what to expect from the week after taking a fortnight off and changing every club in his bag and the man who carries it.

What could yet decide things is who falls ill.

Casey is among a whole host of people at the venue who have been sick, but the other three title contenders have not been affected yet.

“A lot of players are coming down with whatever it is, but I’m taking no precautions,” said Harrington yesterday, touching wood at the same time. I’ll probably regret that tomorrow now.

“I don’t really need to worry about the Order of Merit. I just need to keep myself in contention and hopefully they (the leaders) won’t run away from me and, with nine holes to go, I’ll be there or thereabouts.

“I’ve had a bad day and an average day, so hopefully I’ve got a couple of good ones left.”

Casey stated: “I’m over the worse. I managed to eat half a sandwich. It was the first thing in almost two days. I’m better, but I still feel weak and lethargic like I’ve been beaten up. I didn’t think I’d be playing last night.”

He went back to his room and was sick, then had a second disturbed night with diarrhoea.

On Wednesday, Howell had been doubtful because of his shoulder injury and to still have a chance with 36 holes to go is about as good as he could have hoped.

He was playing with Stenson in the second round and, while the Swede had five successive birdies from the 13th, Howell caught the mood with a couple of closing birdies.

On the long 17th, he carried the water by no more than two inches. While most balls would roll back into the lake, his plugged and he made a curling 12-footer for a four before sinking a 35-foot putt on the last that was still travelling at speed as it hit the hole.

Asked how far it might have gone past, he just smiled and replied: “It went in.

“I need to play a bit better than I did today but my shoulder felt good and, with a bit of luck, it’ll go down to the wire.”