Harrington finishes season on a high

From Brian Keogh in California

European No 1 Padraig Harrington produced a brilliant back nine performance in California to finish the season on a high.

The Dubliner, 35, crashed to three over par at the turn in the Target World Challenge in California. But he scorched home in four under par 32 to close with a 71 and finish alone in eighth place on five under par.

Tiger Woods hit a six under par 66 to cruise to a four shot win over Geoff Ogilvy and capture his eighth strokeplay win since the missed the cut in the US Open in June.

The world No 1 has enjoyed a remarkable end to the season, winning eight and finishing second in the remainder of his 11 strokeplay events.

But Harrington was happy with his finish after a real battle on the front nine.

He said: "I really struggled with my focus on the front nine. But I had four birdies and three other good chances on the back nine. It was nice to go out shooting under par."

The Dubliner struggled at the start of his final round of the season, three-putting the par-five second hole from just 15 feet.

And he had to work hard to avoid another three-putt at the next, where he raced his 30 foot birdie putt five feet past the hole.

It was a similar story at the tough par-four fourth, where he came up five yards short of the green and had to hole a six footer to save par.

The par-fives had caused Harrington particular problems all week and he did well just to drop one stroke at the 534-yard eighth after a pulling his second shot into the trees and then crashing into another tree with his recovery.

Playing his fourth stroke from the heavy rough, he looked on in horror it dived into a bunker short of the green from where he splashed out to four feet and holed out for a six.

The only bright spot of an otherwise forgettable front nine came at the 449-yard seventh, where he holed a 40 footer for birdie to get back to three-under-par for the tournament.

He then dropped back-to-back strokes at the eighth and ninth to turn in 39, his worst front nine of the week.

But he turned on the style coming home, picking up birdies at the 10th, 13th,14th and 17th to finish on five under par.