Golf: Harrington left without a ticket to Ryder

The tournament within the BMW International, won by the Swede Robert Karlsson in a three-hole play-off over Carl Watts, came up with only losers and no winners. The Ryder Cup qualifying table remained unchanged in the important places, leaving Padraig Harrington as this year's nearly man to miss out on a place at Valderrama later this month.

Harrington, who led at Munchen Nord after two days, closed with a 68 but on this super-low scoring course the young Irishman found himself no better than ninth on the leaderboard. That meant he was pounds 12,698.40, or two strokes, short of overtaking Jose Maria Olazabal, who held on to the crucial 11th place on the points list despite only just making the cut in Munich.

Having become used to facing the Americans on a biennial basis as an amateur, Harrington, a three-time Walker Cupper, started the day a stroke outside the fifth place he needed to overtake the injured Spaniard Miguel Angel Martin. Three birdies in a row on the front nine was an encouraging start, but three-putting from five feet at the ninth for a bogey six broke his momentum.

Harrington birdied two of the next four holes, but he had to get up and down for pars at the 15th, 16th and 17th, and missed from 10 feet at the last for a birdie. "Obviously, I'm disappointed. The only time I didn't think I could do it was when I tapped in at the last," Harrington said.

"I'll enjoy watching the Ryder Cup on television," he added. Harrington was phoned on Saturday night by Seve Ballesteros, the European captain who had criticised the Dubliner's course management in Ireland last week. "I think he was trying to smooth things over," Harrington said.

"I was very happy he phoned. It gave me a boost, but it didn't put any more pressure on me. He wished me good luck, told me to relax, play my own game and not look at the scoreboards, so I didn't."

Those whose only chance was a low number were shown the way by Greg Turner, whose 62 would have equalled the course record but for preferred lies operating, and Miguel Angel Jimenez with a 63. That was the number Paul Broadhurst thought he needed for first or second place. Three birdies at the last three holes gave him a 66 and sixth place, but left him ruing a slow start.

"It was a good effort, but not good enough," Broadhurst said. Others with a faint outside chance, Mark James, Roger Chapman and Peter Baker, could not break 70. "I left myself with too much to do in the last two weeks," Broadhurst added.

Olazabal finished 31st, again missing a hatful of chances but he did not drop a shot in his third 67 of the week, which left him three strokes out of the 20th place he was looking for. "I had a terrible week on the greens," he sighed. His eagle at the sixth came courtesy of a two-iron to two feet but he missed more birdie chances than the three he converted, including from six, 30 and 15 feet at the last three holes.

Karlsson and Watts both birdied the final hole to edge Colin Montgomerie out of the play-off. "It is not often you shoot a 66 and drop a place," said the Scot, who nevertheless achieved his aim of boosting his money list placing.

Watts, the 26-year-old rookie, is the Russian Open champion, an event he won in qualifying from the Challenge Tour last year. He began the week in danger of losing his card in 149th place on the money list and he took the lead at the 13th.

Karlsson, who has undergone body psychotherapy to return to form, birdied the 17th and almost chipped in for an eagle at the last, forcing Watts to hole his testing six-footer. He did so but on the second play-off hole, the short 17th, Watts lipped out from 30 feet. His luck had gone. He hooked his drive into a pond at the 18th and when he missed from six feet for par, Karlsson holed from three for his second title.

BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN (Munich, GB and Irl unless stated): 264 R Karlsson (Swe) 67 67 64 66, C Watts 64 68 67 65 (Karlsson won play-off at third extra hole). 265 C Montgomerie 65 67 67 66. 266 F Tarnaud (Fr) 63 68 68 67. 267 T Bjorn (Den) 68 65 68 66. 268 P

Price 65 69 68 66; P Broadhurst 68 67 67 66; J Coceres (Arg) 69 66 66 67. 269 M A Jimenez (Sp) 67 70 69 63; P Harrington 66 64 71 68; E Romero (Arg) 67 70 64 68. 270 G Turner (NZ) 68 68 72 62; M Mouland 67 68 71 64; S Scahill (NZ) 66 71 69 64; B Langer (Ger) 68 69 68 65; J Sandelin (Swe) 67 69 68 66; R Rafferty 69 70 64 67; M Farry (Fr) 68 69 66 67; W Westner (SA) 64 70 68 68; P Lawrie 66 69 67 68; N Fasth (Swe) 66 71 63 70. 271 P Curry 65 69 72 65; J Townsend (US) 66 70 66 69; G Orr 69 69 64 69; D Hospital (Sp) 71 65 64 71. 272 E Els (SA) 67 70 70 65; S Ames (Trin) 69 63 72 68; M Roe 70 68 66 68; C Rocca (It) 69 70 65 68; M Gronberg (Swe) 65 69 66 72. 273 C O'Connor jnr 69 69 69 66; D Chopra (Swe) 67 71 69 66; A Cabrera (Arg) 67 71 68 67; J M Olazabal (Sp) 67 72 67 67; P Haugsrud (Nor) 68 71 66 68; P Sjoland (Swe) 64 71 69 69; P Mitchell 69 68 67 69; J Robson 69 68 66 70. 274 S Henderson 69 70 69 66; S Webster 68 71 67 68; R Chapman 66 70 68 70; R McFarlane 71 68 65 70; P Quirici (Swit) 68 66 69 71; M James 70 64 69 71. 275 P O'Malley (Aus) 69 69 70 67; A Hunter 70 69 69 67; R Claydon 68 69 68 70; I Pyman 69 70 68 68; M Long (NZ) 65 72 68 70; C Suneson (Sp) 65 70 69 71. 276 D Cooper 69 68 72 67; P-U Johansson (Swe) 68 70 69 69; D Edlund (Swe) 66 70 69 71; T Gogele (Ger) 69 70 68 69; S Field 68 68 70 70; G Clark 68 70 65 73. 277 G Brand jnr 69 69 71 68; F Jacobson (Swe) 66 67 73 71; J Payne 72 67 67 71; D Borrego (Sp) 71 67 68 71; P McGinley 70 69 67 71; R Russell 65 69 70 73. 278 D Lee 69 69 74 66; A Coltart 67 72 72 67; R Davis (Aus) 70 69 70 69; P Baker 64 68 70 76. 279 M Gates 71 68 75 65; P Hedblom (Swe) 64 72 74 69; S Richardson 73 66 71 69. 280 D Cole (Aus) 71 66 74 69; C Whitelaw (SA) 70 69 71 70; K Tomori (Japan) 68 69 69 74. 282 M Olander (Swe) 69 70 74 69. 283 J Lomas 66 70 74 73.