Rocca rolls to victory

Did someone say the paltry few Ryder Cup points didn't matter? Poppycock. The win mattered, too. With a typical display of Italian emotion, Costantino Rocca's bear hug of the vanquished Padraig Harrington on the 18th green - moments after he fired a closing round 70 for a 12-under-par total of 276, and a two-shot win over the Irishman - showed just what his fifth European Tour victory meant.

Outside the Galway Bay clubhouse, there is a road-sign with the legend that proclaims that New York lies 3,071 miles across the Atlantic. Medinah is another thousand miles further west, but Rocca hoped that word of his win in the inaugural West of Ireland Classic would drift in the winds to the ears of Europe's Ryder Cup captain, Mark James.

Rocca's haul of 583 Ryder Cup points elevated him to 17th place in the table (before the US PGA), and he acknowledged: "I probably need to win again in Munich (in the BMW International, the final counting tournament) next week if I'm to make the team . . . but if I'm required as a wild card pick, and Mark thinks I can help the team, then I'm ready. I'm in good shape."

No one could dispute that. Two weeks ago, he finished in a tie for fourth place in the European Open, and, yesterday, in conditions that demanded full concentration, Rocca was able to hold off the threat of Harrington, the man with most ground to make in the Ryder Cup equation. Indeed, Harrington's runner-up placing enabled him to win 388 points and jump, temporarily, into 11th place in the European table.

While Rocca's concentration remained focused to the end, Harrington was constantly battling to keep his mind on the task at hand. "My concentration was poor," he conceded. "Why? I don't really know. But I need to improve my focus."

And, yet, with three holes to go, Harrington was neck-and-neck with Rocca. Birdies at the 14th and 15th had threatened to breath new life into his challenge and, at that stage, he was level on 11-under-par with Rocca.

But fate was to take its course on the 16th hole, a par five which represented a clear birdie opportunity. "I don't think it was destined to be for me," lamented Harrington, who had started with 11 straight pars and struggled to get the pace of the greens.

"I was just hanging in there for a long time. I hit a lot of poor shots early on, and I felt my swing was hard and fast in the wind and I paid the penalty."

But his title challenge was only terminally harmed by a wayward drive at the 16th, which runs down by the Renville inlet. There, Harrington backed off his tee-shot and, then, instead of going through with his intention to aim left, changed his mind and proceeded to push his drive out-of-bounds right over the stone wall. In the circumstances, he did well to claim a bogey six with his second ball - but the damage proved to irreparable. Indeed, the Dubliner was forced to produce a brave sand save at the final hole to ensure he finished in second place on his own. Faced with 195 yards to the flag, uphill into a crosswind, Harrington went down the shaft on a four-iron but still overhit the green and finished in the back bunker. "I was trying to hole the bunker shot," said Harrington.

In the event it didn't matter, because Rocca rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt, only the fourth of the day at the 18th, to finish the tournament in style. And it was somewhat appropriate that Harrington, his chief rival, followed him into the hole from six feet (a putt worth £11,143 and also crucial extra Ryder Cup points) for a closing 72 for 278 and a cheque for £27,771.

Rocca birdied three of the first seven holes to put himself in control, but bogeyed the eighth - when he cut his drive into a lake - and then bogeyed the 11th. So, when Harrington drew level with a 15-foot birdie putt on the short 15th, the duel looked set to go right to the death - until Harrington's problems at the 16th.

It proved to be a successful tournament generally for the Irish players.

Des Smyth had a closing round 71 for 279 which gave him a share of third place alongside Gary Evans and Paul Broadhurst. "My standard of play was great," admitted Smyth. "I hit so few poor shots but, unfortunately, my putter was as cold as ice." Indeed, one of those poor shots came at the eighth where his tee shot dived into the lake and he finished with a double bogey.

And there was also some solace for Paul McGinley after a poor recent spell of form. McGinley finished with a 69 for 280 (and a share of sixth place) which gave him his best finish on tour since the Spanish Open in April.

Peter Lawrie, playing on a sponsor's invite, also had reasons to be cheerful. A final round 67 gave the former Irish amateur champion a total of three-under-par 285 and a share of 18th place. It means the Dubliner can return to the Asian Tour this week in the knowledge that his game is in good shape.

Yet, for Rocca, and Harrington, the next step in the Ryder Cup race takes them to Germany.