Abu Dhabi Championship:Padraig Harrington announced last night that he is deserting the European scene for four months to play 11 events in America and will only come back across the Atlantic for the Irish Open at Adare Manor in mid-May.

Harrington's decision came after both he and Paul Casey gave a compelling demonstration of why they were Europe's top two players in 2006 with a stunning exhibition in the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship here yesterday.

In only its second year, with a first prize of "only" 257,000 and an early slot in the European calendar, the desert contest does not register too highly in terms of European tournament prestige, but after Casey produced a closing seven-under-par 65 to win by one shot it deserves a revised ranking.

The Englishman had a point to prove here and, while the Swede Peter Hanson and the Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez were both only one shot off his 17-under 271 aggregate, it was never really going to be their day.

Harrington, who stared the day three shots clear of Casey, slipped at the last hurdle and finished three behind the winner.

It was only over the closing holes that the issue was settled and it must have afforded Casey huge satisfaction. Last year after his win in the World Match Play at Wentworth the 29-year-old broke clear at the top of the European order of merit, a position he looked certain to hold through the final event of the season at Valderrama.

But Casey's Volvo Masters campaign was wrecked on the opening day by a virulent attack of Spanish tummy and he spent most of his time in the locker room while Harrington achieved the second-place finish he needed to win the money list and earn the title of Europe's number one. Casey had the consolation of later being voted Europe's golfer of the year, but with only the fire of revenge burning in his stomach yesterday he turned the tables on his Irish Ryder Cup colleague with a display he later described as his "finest final round as a professional golfer".

Casey only needed four holes to wipe out the overnight deficit, picking up three birdies as Harrington, playing two groups behind him, opened with five straight pars. When Casey gained another stroke on the sixth he went to the top of the leaderboard and never moved from there. When Harrington dropped out of the running at the 11th when he found a greenside bunker and failed to hole from 20 feet, however, a new threat to Casey emerged in the form of the pony-tailed Jimenez.

The Spaniard birdied the short 15th to move within one shot of the lead and then drew level when Casey produced the one blemish of his round by three-putting the 18th. He left for the practice range expecting a play-off only for Jimenez to fail as the pressure was applied and make a mistake of his own when he mishit a simple approach to the 17th, bogeying that and then failing to birdie the last.

The victory took Casey into second place in this year's order of merit, where he trails the Korean Yong-eun Yang who was the surprise winner of the Tournament of Champions in China. But Casey now has a great opportunity to quickly move in front. Casey's immediate European schedule involves playing in Qatar this week followed by a third desert outing in Dubai.

Although disappointed by his finish Harrington was pleased overall: "It is always disappointing when you have a chance but I still feel I am ahead of expectation for this time of the year."

Guardian Service

(Irish in bold and Brit unless stated, par 72)

271 - Paul Casey 71 68 67 65 (€257,876).

272 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 65 68 68, Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 68 66 68 (€134,388 each).

273 - Chris DiMarco (USA) 69 70 68 66 (€77,363).

274 - Retief Goosen (Rsa) 66 72 68 68, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 69 67 68, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 68 67 68 71 (€55,392 each).

275 - Henrik Stenson (Swe) 66 72 70 67 (€38,681).

276 - Richard-Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 69 68, Phillip Price 69 65 71 71.

277 - Phillip Archer 63 75 71 68, Garry Orr 70 68 70 69, Nick Dougherty 66 72 70 69.

278 - Stephen Dodd 69 70 72 67, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 67 69 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 72 69 69, Colin Montgomerie 69 71 69 69, Alastair Forsyth 71 66 69 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 71 67 72.

279 - Kyron Sullivan 72 71 70 66, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 72 70 67, Steve Webster 70 73 69 67, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 72 67 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 67 71 71, Paul Lawrie 67 72 70 71, Graeme Storm 68 70 69 72, James Hepworth 68 71 68 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 70 66 68 75.

280 - Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 69 73 67, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 68 71 68, Ian Garbutt 69 74 69 68, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 73 68 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 71 68 71, Anthony Wall 68 75 66 71, Richard Green (Aus) 67 72 69 72.

281 - Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 72 69 72, Garry Houston 70 67 71 73 Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 75 68 70 68, David Carter 71 68 71 71, Gary Murphy 72 68 68 73.

282 - Oliver Wilson 70 72 73 67, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 71 69 72 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 70 71 70, Graeme McDowell, 71 72 69 70, Nick O'Hern 68 68 75 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 66 71 75.

283 - Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 73 72 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 71 71 70, Damien McGrane 72 68 71 72.

284 - Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 70 75 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 73 69 69 73, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 68 70 75.

285 - Miles Tunnicliff 72 71 73 69, Andrew Marshall 73 70 73 69, Stephen Gallacher 70 73 71 71, Oliver Fisher 68 71 73 73, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 70 72 73, Juan Parron (Spa) 71 71 70 73.

286 - Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 69 75 69, Kenneth Ferrie 74 68 75 69, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 71 71 73 71, David Park 73 70 71 72, Robert Rock 69 72 71 74, Mark Pilkington 73 70 69 74, Gary Emerson 67 70 74 75.

287 - Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 71 74 73, Benn Barham 75 67 72 73, Soren Kjeldsen 75 68 71 73.

288 - Notah Begay III (USA) 72 71 74 71, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 74 74 72, John Bickerton 74 68 72 74, Terry Price (Aus) 74 69 71 74, Yasin Ali 71 70 71 76.

289 - Markus Brier (Aut) 73 69 73 74 291 Lee Slattery 71 70 76 74.