Padraig Harrington was beaten into yet another runners-up spot at the BMW International Open in Munich today as his Ryder Cup team-mate Henrik Stenson triumphed at the first play-off hole.
Having missed a 12-foot chance to win on the last, Harrington went into a play-off alongside Stenson and South Africa's Retief Goosen. All three finished on 15-under-par.
Stenson enjoyed a touch of good fortune in the play-off, his approach getting a favourable bounce before finishing four foot from the pin on his way to an eagle. Harrington and Goosen both birdied the par 5 hole.
The Swede made the playoff by birdieing the 72nd hole to sign for a 68 and match Goosen, who holed an eight-footer for eagle on the last hole of regular play to set the target with a 67.
It looked as though it would be a four-man playoff after Harrington, carding a 69, missed a 12ft birdie putt on the last. However, his playing-partner and last year's Munich champion David Howell of Britain was denied a place in the shootout when his two-footer for birdie failed to drop on the last.
Howell's closing 72 left him in a share of fourth place with another Swede, Martin Erlandsson (70).
Stenson admitted that his sudden-death finale had an element of luck about it as the ball skipped off a mound and out of the rough almost straight right and up to the hole, instead of embedding itself.
"Sometimes you need those sort of lucky bounces," Stenson said after adding to his Qatar Masters title in early season and two second places this year that earned him his Ryder Cup debut. "This week has proved good practice for what's coming at the K Club," said the winner.
The tournament was the final event to count for Europe's Ryder Cup table and the closing day's play decided the last two automatic qualifying places, with Irishman Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal hanging on to their positions in the top 10.
Although Olazabal slipped to 10th place in the table and McGinley moved up to ninth, both made it to the K Club match with the United States comfortably in the end.
Rivals Paul Broadhurst, Johan Edfors and Thomas Bjorn could not find the performances needed to affect the Ryder Cup table.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)