Harrington closes out two shot win

Padraig Harrington finally laid his Belfry ghost with a two-shot victory in the Turespana Masters on Sunday.

The Irishman, disqualified for failing to sign his card when poised to win the Benson and Hedges International at The Belfry, England, five months ago, had his four-stroke lead cut to one but recovered his composure.

His final round 70 gave him a 17-under-par total of 267, two better than Britain's Gary Orr.

Per-Ulrik Johansson put the most pressure on Harrington in the final round, but the Swede's deficiencies with the putter left him only third, three behind.

When Harrington double-bogeyed the 13th, his lead over Johansson was only a stroke, but then the Irishman made sure of his third European Tour win at the venue of his first in his rookie year, by pitching under tree branches to birdie the 14th.

With Johansson bogeying up ahead, Harrington just had to stay calm to better Orr's target of 15- under after the Scot came in with a 66.

"I had no plans to try to protect the big lead," said Harrington. "I don't ever watch scoreboards but I accidentally caught sight of Johansson's score at the eighth and from there I became defensive.

 

Harrington holds on to the Turespana Masters Trophy. Allsport.

"I'd been quite confident until then but that made things tougher because I started worrying about what other players were doing and not what I should be doing."

Harrington, whose Spanish Open win at the Club de Campo launched his career, said that the spectre of The Belfry, when he was disqualified for not signing his first round card moments before starting the last round five strokes in front, came back to haunt him before this final round:

"I saw the tournament director Mike Stewart walking over to me on the range just like five months ago and I thought 'what on earth does he want?'

"But unlike the tournament director at The Belfry, Andy McFee, who was white in the face with worry, Mike was smiling, so I knew it was all right. He just wanted to look at my new clubs!"

Harrington went through his usual ritual nowadays and twice checked he had signed, admitting to relief at the prize-giving where he picked up the $150,000 winner's cheque.

Darren Clarke's closing 65 hauled him to fourth place on 271 and took him within $50,000 of absent European rankings leader Lee Westwood.

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