Padraig Harrington held up Tiger Woods for one million dollars in his own back yard and roared - It's time to do it in a Major.

The Dubliner's held on for two shot win in the Target World Challenge after Woods had clawed his way back from EIGHT shots behind to trail by one with one hole to play.

It could have been another frustrating second place for Harrington but this time he made no errors coming down the stretch.

Instead it was Woods who fell flat on his face to bogey the last and allow Harrington to two-putt for a two shot win.

Like Darren Clarke, who beat Woods in the Accenture Matchplay final three years ago, Harrington now knows that he has the game to beat the world number one in a head to head situation.

"Every time you play with Tiger something of the mystique is erased," said Harrington. "Even if it's not a Major you always learn from playing with him in these events. I will take a lot of positives from this week and hopefully it will stand to me in the future when I am in this situation."

Now Harrington is hoping to go on and finish the season in style when he partners Paul McGinley in the EMC2 World Cup in Mexico on Thursday.

The Irish pair won the event in 1997 and with Harrington in the form of his life, they will be amongst the favourites to take the title at the Jack Nicklaus designed Puerto Vallarta course.

But for the moment Harrington is basking in the glory of the biggest win of his professional career.

In a tournament promoted by Woods to benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation, it was Harrington who stole the show over the final two rounds with scores of 63 and 71 to 69 and 67 by Woods.

Paired with Woods on the last two days he hit three eagles in Saturday's course record 63 to open up a six shot lead with a round to play.

A couple of early birdies stretched that lead to eight shots over Woods before the world number one began a fightback that ended with that 72nd hole bogey.

But the real drama began on the 14th where an out of bounds approach led to a double bogey for Harrington - cutting his lead to a single stroke.

It could have signalled a victory charge by Woods but instead Harrington played the last four holes in one under par - one shot better than his rival.

No-one was more relieved than Harrington, although he never really feared that he would have to settle for second place.

"I felt if I played solid golf that Tiger would have to shoot something really special to win," he beamed.

"I was pretty comfortable that I was sticking to my game plan all day and playing very conservative golf. Unfortunately, playing that way I hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in.

"But they weren't short putts so I was comfortable that things were going. Obviously when I hit it out of bounds on the 14th I had a minor blip there.

"To be honest I kind of rushed the shot. When I came back from the toilet Dave (McNeilly, his caddie) gave me the yardage. I didn't really think about the shot. I had 188 in my head and hit a seven-iron.

"To be honest would have been a lot simpler just to hit an eight-iron into the middle of the green. These things happen, it was definitely a mistake but I wasn't too worried because it was more of a mental mistake than anything else and I was in control of my mental side most of the day and I knew what I to do for he last couple of holes."

Before the tournament, Harrington's wife Caroline had been ribbing him about his narrow wins in the Dunhill Links and the BMW Asian Open.

He explained: "Yeah, Caroline said, 'okay it's great, you've won the last two tournament but could you go back to winning by four or five shots and leave the stress out of it?"

"But I felt that after I got to eight shots ahead that something was going to happen and that Tiger was going to come at me. But I stuck to my game plan and I was proved right at the end of the day. That's what I'm going to take my confidence from."

"I heard someone say on number 13 'Oh, Tiger is in his head'. I'm thinking 'He's been in there all day'."

The key came one the par five 16th, where Woods pulled his three-iron second some 40 yards left of the green into the trees after Harrington had hit the green in two.

Unable even to take a backswing from his lie Woods still chipped in to save par, birdied the 17th from eight feet to get within a shot but he then bogeyed the final hole, blocking his approach this time.

"I had a pretty good shot at it," said Woods. "I had two bad swings - that cost me."

Harrington won't be moving to the US Tour next season but plans to keep to his schedule and perhaps play in one or two more events in the States.

"This doesn't change anything with regard to my schedule or playing in America," he said. "I'm still going to try and be a global player rather than anything else. I want to play internationally on both sides of the pond. I'll hopefully play one or two more over here next year.

"The real problem is that you are trying to keep your number of tournaments down. Usually the less you play, the better you play. So it's a difficult thing to do when you are trying to play everywhere."

Mentally, Harrington now looks to have the full package despite some worrying traits in his game in recent year.

He has been second 22 times - sometimes playing a fantastic final round while on other occasions he has let chances slip.

This season, he had chances to win both the European and British Opens but lost the plot near the finish.

On each occasion his excessive aggression over the final holes cost him vital shots but he feels that those defeats will stand to him when the moment of truth arrives in a Major championship.

"Winning breeds confidence," he declared yesterday "But I think winning in certain ways is more important. Luckily I've had a few nice experiences of late.

It all started when he holed a raker on the final green to win the Volvo Masters in Montecastillo in 2001.

But lately there have been more highlights to fan the flames of ambition and leave Harrington to contemplate his attack on the Majors in 2003 with almost four million euro in the bank this year alone.

"I holed a putt on the last green to win three weeks ago in Asia and I won in a play-off at St Andrews two months ago. This time I've won in a situation of one ahead with four to play and all expectations that the other guy is going to win so I'm gaining nice experience about how these wins are coming about.

"Hitting out of bounds wasn't great but getting up and down and making six gave me confidence and if anything put the shoe on the other foot and you nearly expected Tiger to win at that stage.

"It put it back on me to start playing some good golf. It took a little bit of a shine off Tiger because if he had made two more birdies to get to one behind he would have been in the driving seat .

"I don't think he stepped off the gas but .maybe he expected me to drop a few on the last four holes, which was possible after the double bogey but I was reasonably confident about what I was doing.

"Those last couple of holes really played into my hands. I was quite comfortable on them."

Harrington took the tournament by the scruff of the neck on Saturday when he had three eagles in a course record 63 - nine under par - that had even Woods in awe.

On 19 under with a round to play, the Dubliner broke the 54-hole tournament record set in 2000 by Sergio Garcia by one stroke.

His six-stroke lead was the largest in the four-year history of the event. Vijay Singh had a four-shot lead through three rounds last year.

"That stuff usually happens to someone else," Harrington said of his eagle-packed round.

First he hit a seven-iron into 10 feet on the second and holed the eagle putt, while on the fifth hole he holed a lob wedge from 90 yards. Then on the 11th his three-iron second shot bounced off the pin and stopped inches away.

"I've never seen anything like that," Woods said of all the eagles. "From what I'm told, he hit the pin on No. 11. How do you like that? Three eagles and he got a bad break."

It got so ridiculous that when his five-wood into another par five, the 13th, faded gently toward the pin and rolled away, caddie Dave McNeilly said, "What's a guy got to do to make an albatross around here?"

Critics will point to the fact that this win was not an official US Tour win and doesn't count towards any money list or gave Harrington extra world ranking points.

But it should go a long way in reminding Harrington that he can compete against the best.

He was paired with Woods in the final group Saturday at the U.S. Open and was blown out of contention, and also finished well back after being paired with Woods in the American Express Championship at Mount Juliet.

"I count it," Harrington said. "Against Tiger? Yes. Against a world-class field? Yes."

"If you lose it to anybody, it's bad," Davis Love III said after finishing his round. "If you lose it to Tiger, it makes you even more nervous."

Harrington didn't lose and with Christmas coming, the World Cup might make a nice little Yuletide bonus.

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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