Irishman's rose-tinted vision creates spectacle to kick-start green party

They were on the leader board but you might have thought the Irish Ryder Cup duo needed a telescope or, given the conditions yesterday, perhaps a periscope to catch a glimpse of the front-runner.

It would have been cosier had Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley been paired together but, as it was, they were a hole and a universe apart, playing just in front of Sergio Garcia. McGinley, an old hand at this game, admitted on the practice range, as the rain belted down, that he was a " little bit nervous, everybody is".

It was ever thus and as Garcia faltered over the front nine, it was Harrington who closed in on him until, at the death, he resuscitated the memories of Jean Van de Velde's infamous demise at the Open here in 1999. Things were a little different at Carnoustie eight years ago when you could have lost a giraffe in the rough. Yesterday, with a haunting sense of déjà vu, it was the immovable Barry Burn that once again produced an astonishing finale.

Harrington ­ beforehand he had consulted Bob Rotella, the American sports psychologist ­ had overtaken the Spaniard and was in pole position playing the last. His drive dived into the water after it looked as if his ball would cross a bridge. No such luck. There was a toll to pay. Taking a penalty drop, he hit his third shot back into the burn ­ the hazard snakes its way around the 18th like a recurring nightmare ­ so there was another penalty drop (not for Harrington the prospect of paddling, trousers rolled up to the knees, shoes and socks off, in the water) and he did remarkably well to get up and down for a double-bogey six.

That was crucial for it was odds-on being a seven.He had a six at the same hole on Friday but the timing yesterday was a killer. At least it would have been had Garcia, needing a par at the last, not taken a five after finding a bunker with his approach shot. The Spaniard's putt for the championship came within a fraction of a fingernail of dropping into the cup.

So Harrington was presented with a lifeline in the form of a four-hole play-off after being tied on an aggregate of 277, returning a 67 to Garcia's 73. When Paul Lawrie completed four rounds in the Van de Velde Open, before winning in a play-off, his total was 290, six over par. Harrington made the most of it, managing to keep Garcia at bay as they returned to the first, where he gained a decisive advantage, the 16th, 17th and yes, that infernal 18th.

The second time around, at "Home" (the closing hole), one of the most intimidating in golf, Harrington held a two-stroke lead and he could afford, just, to play it conservatively, taking a five to a brave four that was almost a three, another Garcia putt at the dramatic denouement going agonisingly close.

Europe had their first major winner since Lawrie; Ireland their first Open champion since Fred Daly won at Hoylake in 1947. Fred would not have partied as hard as Padraig and the Irish here last night.

Inevitably there was a chorus of cockles and muscles and almost certainly Harrington would not be drinking claret out of the old jug but a drop or more of Guinness.

The Dubliner resumed yesterday on three under par, the same score as McGinley. "It was great to see," Harrington had said.

"Maybe the two of us could play better ball against Sergio. We might catch him that way." He was, of course joking, but he was much more realistic when he said: "If I make a couple of birdies and Sergio a few bogeys, things might change." And change they did.

Garcia went to the turn in 38; Harrington in 33. When he had a birdie three at the third, the Irishman was five strokes behind the leader and after nine holes he stood at six under par for the championship and was one shot adrift. Game on and then some. While the Argentine Andres Romero was having the most extraordinary journey over the back nine, Harrington made his move.

While his compatriot McGinley was treading water, Harrington, who finished top of Europe's order of Merit last season, had his eye in. He picked up further birdies at the sixth and ninth and a glance at the leader board told him that he was breathing down Garcia's neck. Romero was not dealing in pars. He was firing either birdies or double-bogeys, flirting with the sublime and the ridiculous.

Harrington, who won the Irish Amateur Championship in 1995 before turning professional, got to seven under for the tournament when his approach shot at the 11th finished three feet from the flag and at that point he was tied for the lead. The leader in the clubhouse, following a record-equalling 64, was Richard Green from Melbourne. But it was the green of Ireland that induced some deafening roars over the links. It died, partially, on their lips when Harrington's putt for another birdie touched the cup at the 12th but his ball lipped out.

Harrington though ­ his best finishes in the Open had been joint fifth at Royal Troon in 1997 and joint fifth at Muirfield in 2002 ­ was playing the golf of his career.

At the 176-yard 13th hole he hit a great tee shot to within seven feet ­ and missed the birdie putt. The disappointment was temporary, for on the 514-yard 14th, a hole called the Spectacles, Harrington's vision was rose-tinted. His second shot nestled about 12 feet from the hole and he sank the putt for an eagle three.

At nine under par he had the outright lead and he would have extended it but for shaving the cup with a six-foot birdie putt at the 16th. On the 18th green in the fourth round and again in the play-off Garcia endured a similar agony ­ only it was twice as bad.

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