Padraig has to push

Padraig Harrington to shoot the round of his life in the £2 million Masters here today if he is to have any chance of overtaking Retief Goosen to win the European Order of Merit title. He has about as much chance of doing that as Spain has of regaining control of nearby Gibraltar. Harrington somehow has to earn £14,538.39 more than Goosen at the end of play today to finish the season as European number one. They will be lucky to make that much money between them the way they have played the past three days.

As title fights go, this one has about as much punch as any of Audley Harrison's professional opponents. It's hard to say which corner would have thrown the towel in yesterday if they'd had the option. Probably Goosen. Yesterday the South African looked like he'd be happy to let Harrington have the title and head home to South Africa.

Harrington takes a one-stroke advantage over Goosen into the final round after shooting a three-over-par 74 to Goosen's 78. The Irishman is 11 over while Goosen is 12 shots worse than par. They are 14 and 15 shots worse than Welshman Bradley Dredge, who leads on three under par. Argentina's Angel Cabrera and Colin Montgomerie are tied for second place on two under. Justin Rose is fourth on level par.

Conditions were tough, with strong winds making club selection difficult. However, they weren't so bad that players of Harrington and Goosen's calibre should have struggled the way they did, as the Irishman readily admitted. 'It was a tough golf course today,' he said. 'Seventy-four is a reasonable score if I'd played well the first two days. It was possible to shoot a couple under par today, and that would have been good enough.'

Harrington is desperate to add the European money title to his impressive CV. More so because he finished runner-up to Goosen last season. The 32-year-old Dubliner is a qualified accountant, and he can usually tell you exactly where he stands in most of the European Tour's statistical categories. He will have spent last night with his calculator factoring out every possible scenario. He will start today's round knowing exactly what he has to do to catch the South African.

'It's possible. It's certainly more possible now than it was the week before the Dunhill Links Championship [which Harrington won]. Neither of us have played well this week. I was hoping to get to a situation where it would be a straightforward, head-to-head. It's certainly very difficult, but I'm still there and it's possible, vaguely possible.'

Vaguely is the right word. Goosen was tied for 47th after yesterday's play, and Harrington was tied for 43rd. If Goosen maintains that position, it would mean Harrington needs to climb 26 places to 21st place to have any chance of claiming the European Order of Merit title. That's a tall order the way Harrington is playing.

While Harrington and Goosen will provide the real drama, the main subplot involves a little matter of the £330,330 first-place cheque. That will come down to a straightforward fight between Montgomerie, Cabrera, Dredge and Rose. They are the only players in the 65-man field on par or better.

Montgomerie normally plays well here if there is an Order of Merit title on the line. The only difference this year is that Montgomerie isn't involved in that particular battle. The Scot may have been the star of the show in winning four-and-half points out of five to lead Europe to victory in Ryder Cup, but the rest of the season has been a write off. He's just looking to win this title to turn a mediocre season by his standards into a good one.