Cool Langer the hero as Germans win play-off

World Cup:Wouldn't golf drive you demented? Yesterday, as if to underpin the craziness of it all, Bernhard Langer, a player who this season lost his tour card on the PGA Tour and is on the verge of a new career in the seniors game, and Marcel Siem, who has adulated the man he refers to as "a legend" but on this occasion proved to be his peer, captured the World Cup for Germany at the first hole of sudden death at the Country Club at Sandy Lane when Colin Montgomerie, of all people, proved to be the weak link in Scotland's bid for glory.

On a day when torrential rain disrupted the final round of foursomes, resulting in a weather delay of one hour and 43 minutes and spectators commandeering liners from rubbish bins to use as impromptu rain gear, Germany's closing-round 66 for 268, 16 under, earned them a play-off with Montgomerie and Marc Warren, which anti-climatically ended at the first play-off hole.

While the Irish pair of Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington experienced yet more frustration on the greens, eventually finishing mid-table in tied-12th on 275, the number of pretenders to the crown increased as the day lengthened. Sweden, who had carried a one-stroke lead into the foursomes over Argentina, who were to fall out of contention on the back nine, were joined in the mix by Scotland and Germany.

Ultimately, though, it came down to a shootout between the Germans and the Scots, after Sweden's Carl Petterson missed a par putt from six feet on the 18th that would have given them a place in the play-off.

"It's disappointing when you finish like that, when you're in the hunt," observed Petterson.

If ever two players have proved their worth in foursomes, particularly in the context of Ryder Cups, it has been Langer and Montgomerie. Yesterday, they were pitted in opposite corners: Langer with Siem, a 26-year-old player with one tour win to his name; Monty with Warren, a 25-year-old, also with one tour win but European "rookie of the year" this year.

With Germany covering the back nine in a best-of-the-day 32 to sign for a 66, Scotland's final round 69 also left them on 268, and the 18th hole, a par three of 197 yards with the tee shot into the wind over water, became the theatre for the final drama.

And, as they have down the years, Langer and Montgomerie shouldered the responsibility of the tee shots. Incredibly, both missed the green in almost identical spots, short left and in rough.

Warren played an aggressive lob shot out of the rough - "It was sitting down a bit and I didn't want to quit on it," he explained - and the ball finished five feet above the hole. It was a similar, if shorter, putt to the one Petterson had missed in regulation play.

When Siem stood over the ball for his chip, knowing Monty faced a difficult putt down the grain, his only aim was to put the ball closer to the hole than the Scots'. He did, pitching to two-and-a-half feet.

Montgomerie, a player who had holed every putt over the four days when the hard questions had been asked, now proved fallible, missing the par putt. Langer coolly holed out to claim the cup for Germany 16 years after he had won it (partnering Torsten Giedeon) in 1990.

"Every trophy is special, and this is special also because I had my son (Stefan) caddying for me," said Langer, a two-time Masters champion.

Ironically, Langer and Siem played together for the first time only in practice last Wednesday. But Langer claimed after this triumph, that earned them a $1.4-million purse, that he had felt an "instant spark, an immediate chemistry" with Siem.

For Ireland, it was a particularly disappointing tournament. Having entered it with high hopes and strong expectations, the Irish duo struggled to hole putts. As McGinley put it, it didn't happen for them.

"I don't think anyone as a team putted as badly as we did over the four days," he said. "The quality of our golf was good enough to win, but the quality of our putting was not. It's been pretty abysmal."

Harrington, who plays in this week's Target World Challenge in California to finish off his competitive year, added: "It's disappointing. Obviously we were not that far away when you look at the scoring . . . We created a lot of chances today and didn't make any of them really."