Late birdies pull Harrington clear

Ireland's Padraig Harrington made doubly certain he had signed his Turespana Masters card of five-under-par 66 on Saturday after taking a four-stroke lead into the final round.

Five months ago at The Belfry in England, Harrington was denied the chance of taking a five-shot lead into the Benson and Hedges International final round when he was disqualified just before mounting the first tee.

It had been discovered that the Dubliner had failed to sign his first round card.

Now Harrington checks his card thoroughly and signs twice to make sure he does not make the same mistake.

The Irishman will be looking for justice from his three-round aggregate of 16-under-par 197, which enabled him to shake off the attentions of the defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez, his playing-partner, who had begun the third round only one stroke behind.

Jimenez made a determined bid to make it three Turespana Masters titles in a row when he wrested the lead off Harrington only to make late mistakes as the Irishman surged ahead with four birdies in five holes from the 13th, coming home in five-under-par 30.

The defending champion's bogeys at the 15th and 16th relegated him to a share of second place with fellow Spaniard Santiago Luna.

Sweden's Per-Ulrik Johansson and Roger Wessels of South Africa are a further stroke back and 48-year-old Irishman Eamonn Darcy moved up to joint sixth on 203.

But Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke has lost the chance, but for a miracle, to regain the European number one spot.

Clarke's lack-lustre 70 left him nine strokes behind Harrington. Only a win can take Clarke back to the top of the order of merit.

A victory for Harrington will elevate him to eighth in the rankings -- leapfrogging the man who took first prize at The Belfry in May, Jose Maria Olazabal.

The self-effacing Harrington said he was not prepared to allow a victory chance to slip through his fingers in the same way again.

"I actually double-sign my card nowadays," revealed Harrington, who confessed the incident still haunted him three weeks ago when in with a chance of winning the German Masters.

"Then I know I can't go wrong. I sign it as soon as I go in to record and then I check again next to my name, because the only thing that can go wrong is if I've signed the wrong card!"

If Harrington does win he will emulate his feat of four years ago when he won the Spanish Open at Club de Campo in his rookie year, the last time the European Tour played at the Madrid course.

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