He would go on to strike a brilliant 5-wood at the par-5 17th. When the ball stopped just 5 feet from the cup, Poulter — watching in the clubhouse — knew his chances of winning were nil. Harrington swiped it in for eagle, giving himself a hefty cushion going to the final hole.

All Poulter could do was watch the triumphant walk up the 18th fairway.

Maybe things would have been different if he had scored better at the 17th, as well as the other par-5 on the course, No. 15. Harrington played them at 3 under. Poulter could only manage a couple of pars, including a three-putt on the next-to-last hole, halting his comeback in its tracks.

Even when he rolled in a 15-footer to save par at No. 18, setting off one more big roar, it wasn’t nearly enough. Harrington won with a 3-over 283, four shots ahead of Poulter.

But the runner-up had no complaints.

“It was great buzz around the whole back nine,” Poulter said. “I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a week as much as I have this week. It’s on home soil, the crowd has been absolutely awesome, they’ve been driving me on.”

“To start holing putts around the back nine,” he went on, “to hear everybody screaming and shouting and driving you on is a massive adrenaline rush, a massive boost.”

So, here’s a guy who believes he can be No. 2 and claimed that spot at golf’s oldest championship, even if Woods was back home in the States recovering from knee surgery. With his gelled-up hair defying the stiff breeze and a narrow line of whiskers running from the bottom lip down to the end of his chin, Poulter headed toward his car — signing a few autographs along the way, taking in “Well done, Ian” a few more times.

“I’ve done my best,” Poulter said. “It hasn’t quite been good enough. But I’ll be back for lots more of this. It’s a nice roller-coaster ride.”

MORE FROM GOLF

Golf Section Front

Creamer out of hospital, in ADT final round Daly nearly sets course record in Hong Kong Olazabal: Outlook positive for recovering Ballesteros Armour takes 5-stroke lead at Pebble Beach Taiwan's Lin wins Hong Kong Open in playoff Marksaeng takes lead at Dunlop Phoenix Thompson takes honors at Champions Tour Q-school Latest golf videos Special section: Golf on NBC Tracking Tiger: News, features and more Golf Section Front   Add Golf headlines to your news reader: