A golden opportunity to register a rare victory on the PGA Tour slipped through the fingers of Paul Casey and Ian Poulter on Monday . But their failure opened the door for an even more heart-warming outcome : victory for two-time Open winner Padraig Harrington at the second play-off hole of the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida . The crushing decline of Harrington has been documented well enough in the past six years . Padraig Harrington celebrates his Honda Classic golf win on Monday at Palm Beach Gardens . Harrington tips his hat to the crowd as he walks to the green on the second playoff hole . Ian Poulter plays his shot out of a bunker on the 14th hole during The Honda Classic . With Harrington in danger of falling outside the world ’ s top 300 , it seemed a mystery why he didn ’ t put his name forward last month as a candidate to be Europe ’ s captain at the Ryder Cup in Minnesota next year . But the model Irishman , now 43 , had the last word on Monday with his first win in seven years on one of the two main tours . Reduced to asking for invitations to play in America these days , he made full use of one at the Honda Classic . He led at halfway , and then in a see-saw final round he got the better of rookie American Daniel Berger having needed a birdie at the 18th to force a play-off . Jack Nicklaus opined that he could see tension in the Harrington swing during the third round , which was hardly surprising given all the problems he ’ s had on the course these last few years . Poulter of England and his caddie are seen during the continuation of the fourth round of The Honda Classic . After winning The Open in 2007 and 2008 , followed by the US PGA Championship the same year , he suffered his first winless year for a decade in 2009 . While the Irishman managed just one top-five finish in majors over the next five years , his ranking plummeted from world No 2 to 297 at the start of this year . After yesterday ’ s win , Harrington moves up to No 82 and qualifies for this year ’ s Masters . And some of the putting woes that have contributed to his fall re-appeared during the final round , only for Harrington to hold his nerve with a level-par 70 that set up the win . Harrington said : ‘ Hopefully this isn ’ t an isolated win . I think I have found that mental edge I had been missing and hopefully I can be consistently contending . Believe it or not , when I get in contention I can still hit the shots. ’ For Casey , it was the second week in a row he had experienced such frustration , after losing a sudden death play-off in the Northern Trust Open last week . For Poulter , who went into the water five times in a final round of 75 that left him tied third with Casey , it means the long wait to register a stroke-play success on American soil , stretching back over 150 events and more than 10 years , goes on . Harrington putts on the second playoff hole during The Honda Classic at PGA National Resort & Spa . The 39-year-old has won stroke-play events in Africa , Asia , Australia and Europe , but his sole victory in the US came in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona in 2010 . ‘ It ’ s just bitterly disappointing to put myself in the position I have , to play as well as I ’ ve played ... and a couple of loose shots has cost me this tournament , ’ said Poulter . ‘ It ’ s a shame to hand tournaments away. ’ A Monday finish at the Honda Classic proved a necessity after violent storms had wreaked havoc on Friday and Saturday . The two Englishmen began the last 11 holes of the final round on Monday with a one-stroke lead over Patrick Reed . Paul Casey watches his tee shot on the 15th hole during The Honda Classic at PGA National Resort & Spa . Both Englishmen will look to the positives after going so close . For Poulter it brings to an end a miserable 15 months during which he hasn ’ t finished in the top 10 in tournaments , never mind win . For Casey , it ’ s further evidence that his career is now firmly back on track . The 37-year-old turned his back on the European Tour to concentrate on America this year and his decision has been vindicated by his golf over the past fortnight . Barely inside the world ’ s top 100 at the beginning of February , he is on the verge of earning an invitation to play in the Masters in April . The scene now switches 60 miles south to Miami and the first event this year in which all the world ’ s best players are in the same place at the same time — the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral .
Paul Casey and Ian Poulter let a rare PGA Tour victory slip away . Their failure opened the door for two-time Open winner Padraig Harrington . It was Harrington 's first win in seven years on one of the two main tours . Poulter finishes in the Top 10 of a tournament for first time in 15 months .