Sergio Garcia insisted he was not disappointed after seeing another major victory slip from his grasp and again into the hands of Padraig Harrington at the US PGA Championship last night.
Garcia had to settle for another second place at a major behind Harrington when he let slip a final-round lead to the Irishman at Oakland Hills.
The Spaniard finished two shots back of his Ryder Cup team-mate in a tie for second with American Ben Curtis, a year after he had been beaten in a play-off by Harrington at the 2007 Open at Carnoustie.
The finish was also his third runner-up finish at a major following his second place behind Tiger Woods at the 1999 US PGA and his 14th top-10 finish at a major.
``Why are you making this a disappointment?'' Garcia asked reporters.
``Obviously I was trying to win, but that's it. It's not disappointing. Every time you're out there trying to win a major. What can you do, there can only be one winner. I'm fine.
``It was worse when I finished the Open Championship than this year, than I am right now.
``That's the way it goes. the good thing about it is I feel good out there. I felt like I played good. I definitely feel like I played well enough to win. But unfortunately it didn't happen. So that's pretty much all I can ask myself to do.
``Why? Because I lost it there on the back nine. When you give it your best, and the end result is not what you wish for, it's hard, but you feel good, you feel like you gave it your best.
``There, I kind of lost control a little bit, and I didn't have a chance; when after nine, I did have a chance of doing something, so it's not disappointing.''
There was a silver lining for Garcia as his runner-up finish, which came with a cheque for 660,000 (#334,295.70), pushed him up to the third on the European Ryder Cup world points list and an automatic place on Nick Faldo's team for next month's showdown with the United States at Valhalla.
European Tour Order of Merit
Prize money in Euros:
1 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 2350556.00
2 Lee Westwood (Eng) 1839480.00
3 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 1794092.0
4 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 1675186.00
5 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 1674436.00
6 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 1660937.00
7 Vijay Singh (Fij) 1632384.00
8 Oliver Wilson (Eng) 1179260.00
9 Ross Fisher (Eng) 1111307.00
10 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 1085477.00
11 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 1062587.00
12 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 1036427.00
13 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 1030479.00
14 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 1014938.00
15 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 999811.00
16 Ian Poulter (Eng) 906806.00
17 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 813622.00
18 James Kingston (Rsa) 811020.00
19 Richard Finch (Eng) 799938.00
20 Soren Hansen (Den) 786231.00
