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
ian poulter pga tour first harrington paul casey padraig harrington seven years 15 months open
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 