If the old joke in the locker room about the number of second places that Padraig Harrington had mustered in his 11 years on tour had started to become a bit jaded, the 30th runner-up finish of his career in yesterday's Volvo Masters at Valderrama at least left the Irishman with the last laugh.
The cheque for €298,280 that Harrington received in the final tournament of the season moved his earnings on the PGA European Tour for 2006 to €2,489,336 which, when all the figures were added up, meant that he moved ahead of England's Paul Casey - by €35,252 - on the money list. This meant he had won the prestigious Harry Vardon Trophy, awarded to the leading player on the Order of Merit.
He became the third Irish player to win the award, following Christy O'Connor snr in 1961 and 1962, and Ronan Rafferty, who won in 1989.
At the start of every season, one of the things that Harrington does is to put specific goals into his laptop.
While winning one of golf's four majors - the Open, the US Masters, the US Open and the US PGA - tops the list, the Order of Merit title is always another of those objectives.
Although India's Jeev Milka Singh won the tournament, the subplot of who would win the Order of Merit title became the main focus of the European Tour's final tournament of the season.
Harrington did it the hard way, holing two long birdie putts on the 14th and 16th before making unlikely par saves on the 17th and 18th holes. "It was vintage Harrington, I just willed the ball into the hole," he later observed of his own efforts.
Harrington had twice finished second on the European Tour money list, in 2001 and 2002, on each occasion behind South Africa's Retief Goosen.
However, this achievement in winning marks a personal milestone for a player who has won 10 European Tour titles, two US Tour events, and been a member of three winning teams in the Ryder Cup and once in the World Cup.
"This is something I'm very proud to have done," he said.
