Late on Sunday evening, Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie boarded a shared private jet at Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados, and continued their global odyssey on to California, a further four time zones away, for the Target World Challenge, a tournament that will finally bring the curtain down on their respective seasons.

In a way, it was fitting the two should accompany each other to the final tournament - albeit a non-counting one for world ranking points - as Harrington finished 2006 as Europe's top-ranked golfer in the world rankings and as the European Tour's order of merit winner, a position that Monty had claimed on no fewer than eight occasions during his honour-laden career.

Montgomerie, though, left the Sandy Lane resort thinking of what might have been, after probably his best chance to win the World Cup slipped from his - and partner Marc Warren's - grasp, when the big Scot missed a par putt on the 18th green, the first play-off hole, which handed the title to Germany's Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem.

For Harrington, it had proved to be a frustrating tournament as, in tandem with Paul McGinley, the Irish team, who eventually finished tied-12th, failed to get to grips with the slick, grainy greens on the Country Club course.

Still, given the year that he has had in topping the European Tour money list, winning twice and being part of the Ryder Cup winning team, Harrington could have few gripes that he should experience a week when things didn't go exactly as planned.

This week's Target World Challenge is a limited-field tournament, promoted by Tiger Woods, and Harrington hopes that a return to a course where he has won previously will enable him to find a spark.

"You know, it's a course I am familiar with and have played well on, so I am looking forward to it," he said, adding: "The preparation between now and then is going to be key to how I play. I know I need to rest and to have the right preparation so that I am ready to play and really wanting to go and play on Thursday."

Despite a globetrotting schedule of recent weeks that has seen him play in China, Japan, South Africa, Barbados and now California, Harrington insisted that tiredness should not be a factor come the time that he tees it up in a tournament where Luke Donald is the defending champion.

"The attitude I want to have on Thursday is that I want to play . . . and I should be okay in that regard, as fatigue only really kicks in if you don't perform well."

When Harrington finishes his year's work at Sherwood in California, he will have a five-week break before he resumes playing in Abu Dhabi in mid-January, a once-off tournament for him in the Middle East as he won't be playing in either Dubai or Qatar, and his 2007 season will kick off in earnest when he plays four straight weeks in the United States, starting with the Pebble beach Pro-Am in February (where he will partner JP McManus and attempt to add this tournament to the Dunhill Links they won in October) and then include the Los Angeles Open, the Accenture matchplay and the Honda Classic.

While Harrington will continue playing for one more week, McGinley, his partner in Barbados, will take six weeks off before resuming his 2007 season in a team environment, at the Royal Trophy in Thailand where he will be part of a European team that takes on Asia.

"There is certainly work for me to be done over the winter," admitted McGinley, who has fallen outside the world's top 50 this year. "I've got to regroup a bit and to do some thinking about what I am doing. I'm going to assess everything, and I've got to learn from my mistakes of this year and come back out even better next year."

As if to emphasis that there is always hope, McGinley would need to look no further than Langer for inspiration. The veteran German arrived in Barbados having finished 138th on the US Tour money list and without a full card for 2007, when he will turn 50 in August and move on to the Champions Tour. Yet, he contrived to win the World Cup for a second time in his career, and a first in partnership with Siem.

"It's not easy to believe (we won)," said Langer, "to tell you the truth, 16 years later to be back in the winner's circle with another young man. But it just shows you the golf ball doesn't know how old you are and you've got to just keep hitting it and try to stay as fit as you can."