Montgomerie and Langer finish Tour's year of the unexpected in style

For a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer produced some of the finest golf seen all season on the European Tour. A fitting climax to the season, it appeared, but then the 2002 European Tour never really went to plan. If it was the year of the unexpected then there were more surprises as darkness descended.

The lights did not just go out on the Volvo Masters, leaving Montgomerie and Langer to share the title after the first two holes of their play-off were halved, but all over Gibraltar. The airport by the Rock is not the most salubrious place at the best of times but was not improved by torchlight. As passengers waited for hours in the gloom to be checked in or have their luggage searched by hand, Montgomerie, his wife and caddie, passed through the terminal to board their private plane.

If good things come in threes, Monty had already extended his run of winning each year on tour since 1993, and for the first time in eight attempts had managed not to lose a play-off. Nobody won, but nobody lost, except perhaps the tournament itself which deserved the thrilling finish it would have got had the tee-times been an hour earlier. Langer's back nine of four under, and Montgomerie's three birdies before the bogey at the last, on such a demanding course as Valderrama was simply exceptional.

But the scheduled finish time did not leave room for a lengthy play-off before sunset. The precedent for a tie, or joint victory as it will go down in the records for each player, came at the 1986 Lancôme Trophy when Langer and Seve Ballesteros had to call it quits after six holes. "It was ridiculous," Langer said of their attempts to play a third extra hole. "I could not see the ball I was trying to hit. Coming back in the morning would have been an anticlimax, and everybody has somewhere to go, don't they?"

Montgomerie left yesterday for a skins game in China. Langer headed to the States for this week's Ryder Cup-style event for over-40s. Phillip Price was among those teeing up this morning in the second stage of the US Qualifying School. "Pathetic," said one player at the failure to end the tournament despite there being no interruption for weather.

The other talking point concerned Montgomerie on the 10th green. After missing a short par putt, the Scot hastily prepared to tap in. Television pictures suggested the ball moved with the putter in close proximity. Montgomerie was taken to the television compound to view the incident before the play-off could start. "The ball moved," the chief referee, John Paramor, said. "The player was asked if he caused the ball to move. The answer was in the negative. Television pictures are never conclusive. Only the player knows whether he caused the ball to move." No penalty was assessed.

The race for the Order of Merit was hardly as suspenseful. Padraig Harrington could not overtake Retief Goosen, who won the Vardon Trophy for a second year running despite only winning once during the season.

Consistency was the hallmark of both players' games. Harrington moved alongside Sergio Garcia in the world's top 10 and missed only one cut. It was at the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth and the Irishman is considering missing the event next year.

"There is no part of my game that I cannot physically improve," Harrington said. "It's whether I can do it or not, but my game is not static."

Harrington, who won the Dunhill Links last month, was not going to dwell on the "what ifs". "I could give you a sob story for every week of the year, apart from the week I won. If every Sunday you count up what one less shot would have got you, you would go barmy. It's not going to help you play any better and it will probably help you play worse."

Another South African, Ernie Els, who was not at Valderrama, was perhaps the real player of the season given his triumph at the Open Championship, plus victories in the Heineken Classic, the Dubai Classic and the World Match Play at Wentworth.

Justin Rose must be the young player of the year. He won four times around the world, including the British Masters at Woburn on an afternoon that gladdened many hearts after a dispiriting England World Cup display earlier in the day.

In addition to the Ryder Cup, which was one great big highlight, two memories remain. One was Gary Evans holing a huge putt at the 17th at Muirfield for a par despite losing a ball with his second shot. The other was on a dank and cold April morning in Ireland when Seve Ballesteros holed from a bunker for perhaps one last win with his old pal Jose Maria Olazabal over Harrington and Paul McGinley. We may not see much more of Seve but at least his knack for the unexpected lives on.

EUROPEAN ORDER OF MERIT AND TOUR STATISTICS

FINAL POSITIONS: 1 R Goosen (SA) £1,481,924; 2 P Harrington (Irl) £1,465,930; 3 E Els (SA) £1,413,847; 4 C Montgomerie (Sco) £1,243,694; 5 E Romero (Arg) £1,137,334; 6 S Garcia (Sp) £934,772; 7 A Scott (Aus) £855,039; 8 M Campbell (NZ) £832,221; 9 J Rose (Eng) £831,043; 10 P Laurie (Sco) £722,985; 11 A Cabrera (Arg) £708,844; 12 T Bjorn (Den) £697,102; 13 J M Olazabal (Sp) £669,393; 14 T Immelman (SA) £668,139; 15 S Leaney (Aus) £662,452; 16 A Hansen (Den) £657,989; 17 N Fasth (Swe) £617,131; 18 B Dredge (Wal) £603,488; 19 B Langer (Ger) £594,767; 20 S Hansen (Den) £585,698.

LOWEST 18 TO PAR: 61 I Poulter (-11, Italian Open); 61 A Cabrera (-11, Italian Open); 60 T Dier (-10, TNT Open).

LOWEST 72-HOLE SCORES: 262 A Scott (-26, Scottish PGA Championship); 262 J M Olazabal (-22, Hong Kong Open).

HIGHEST WINNING 72-HOLE SCORE: 282 M Campbell (-6, European Open).

LARGEST 18-HOLE LEAD: 5 strokes T Dier (TNT Open).

LARGEST 54-HOLE LEAD: 13 strokes R Goosen (Johnnie Walker Classic).

LARGEST WINNING MARGIN: 10 strokes A Scott (Scottish PGA Championship).

FEWEST TO MAKE CUT: 70 Qatar Masters; 70 Omega European Masters

FIRST TIME WINNERS (14): T Clark (South African Open); J Rose (Dunhill Championship); R S Johnson (ANZ Championship); A Atwal (Singapore Masters); K Sutherland (WGC Accenture Match Play); A Forsyth (Malaysian Open); C Pettersson (Open de Portugal); M Mackenzie (Open de France); A Hansen (Volvo PGA Championship); M Tunnicliff (Great North Open); S Hansen (Irish Open); G McDowell (Scandinavian Masters); A Mednick (North West of Ireland Open); R Beem (US PGA Championship).

BIGGEST CATCH-UP IN LAST ROUND TO WIN: 4 strokes J Rose (Dunhill Championship), B Langer (Volvo Masters Andalucia).

MOST CONSECUTIVE CUTS MADE: 30 E Els.