Satisfaction was written all over Padraig Harrington's face as he clutched a cheque for £322,474 and held aloft a trophy that meant even more.

Harrington beat Ryder Cup team-mate Thomas Bjorn at the first hole of a play-off for the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Hamburg to move top of the European Order of Merit and spare him the 20th runners-up finish of his career.

The Dubliner had to make a 10-foot putt on the final green to force the shoot-out on 19 under par after Bjorn had closed with a 63, the lowest round of the week.

But then it was the Dane who made the decisive mistake, hitting into sand when they returned to the 18th and failing to get up and down.

A week earlier Harrington had been four clear in the Benson & Hedges International Open and finished second behind Paul Casey.

"I did think about what I would say if I was second again," said Harrington, who finished with a 68.

"Last week had me thinking if I was back to not converting my chances, so to come through is just great. It would have rough not to win either and to win this is a big boost to my confidence.

"Thomas pipped me for Rookie of the Year and normally comes out on top, so maybe I was due and it's nice to get a bit of a monkey off my back with him."

Bjorn was playing only his second event since taking two months off to be with his new-born twin sons.

"I go home disappointed, but not too disappointed - I've come a long way in two weeks," he said. "I'm pleased for Padraig. It's about time he knocked one off."

Tiger Woods - first, third, first and first in the event the last four years - finished down in 29th, his equal worst finish in a stroke play event since the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational.

Third was Retief Goosen, who has denied Harrington the Order of Merit title the past two seasons, while Swede Niclas Fasth was fourth and Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Graeme McDowell shared fifth.

Fasth threw down the gauntlet this morning with an eagle and four birdies in the first six holes to go two clear. But he managed only level par for the remaining 12.

Goosen, having pitched in at the second and chipped in at the 12th, was joint leader with four to play, but missed from three feet at the short 16th and failed to birdie the long 17th.

"I played terribly," he said despite a 66. "I only hit four fairways and they were my last four drives. Typically, when I started to play better I couldn't make a putt."

Bjorn went to the turn in 31 and had four more birdies. But he missed a seven-foot chance for another on the last and had to wait to see how costly it proved. The answer was £108,492.

Harrington overcame a three-putt opening bogey to birdie four of the next eight and when he two-putted the long 15th to be on level terms he was the favourite. But a bad drive down the 17th led to only a par and when he pulled his approach to the last 45 feet wide he needed to hole it to win or three-putt to lose.

When his first putt pulled up 10 feet short he had to hole and did. In the play-off he had a four-footer to win and made that too.

Woods, joint 38th at the start of the day, birdied the first two holes, but any thoughts of a charge from nine back ended when his second to the 541-yard third finished under the lip of a bunker.

"That kind of summed it up for the week," he said.

"I played really well and overall I'm very pleased, but I didn't sink anything. They struggled to get the greens in the shape they were the last time I was here (in 2000), but they did the best they could."

Woods refuted any suggestion he had not given the event his all.

He added: "The guys who know me know I give it everything I've got. I just didn't get any momentum going and it had nothing to do with the break I've just had either."

Woods was making his first appearance since a 15th place in his bid for a third successive Masters title. Now, after failing to claim a Deutsche Bank hat-trick, the Memorial Tournament in two weeks' time is his last run-out before his US Open defence.

Colin Montgomerie, beaten in a play-off last year, improved Woods' final position, playing the last eight holes in three over for a 73 and nine under aggregate.

Now the circuit moves to Wentworth for the Volvo PGA Championship. But Harrington will not be there - he has never had a top 10 finish in the event and is skipping it this year.

Collated final totals in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe at Gut Kaden, Hamburg, Germany

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

269 Padraig Harrington 65 66 70 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 70 65 63

(Harrington won play-off at first hole. Harrington wins £322,474, Bjorn £214,982)

270 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 65 69 70 66 (£121,121)

271 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 69 68 66 (£96,742)

272 Justin Rose 72 68 67 65, Paul Casey 70 66 69 67, Graeme McDowell 70 65 68 69 (£69,267 each)

273 Greg Owen 70 69 67 67, Paul Lawrie 70 66 69 68, Darren Clarke 67 69 69 68 (£43,469 each)

274 Thomas Levet (Fra) 71 67 68 68

275 David Park 71 70 70 64, Marc Farry (Fra) 70 70 69 66, Peter Lawrie 67 69 71 68, Nick Faldo 70 67 70 68

276 Alastair Forsyth 70 67 72 67, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 70 68 68, Andrew Coltart 68 67 70 71, Anthony Wall 71 70 64 71

277 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 68 71 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 70 69 68, John Bickerton 72 69 68 68, Peter Baker 67 69 71 70, Miles Tunnicliff 69 68 70 70, David Carter 69 70 68 70, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 68 70, Stephen Gallacher 71 67 68 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 71 67 66 73

278 Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 69 69 72 68, Tiger Woods (USA) 69 71 70 68, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 69 69 68, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 72 70 68 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 67 71 72

279 Johan Rystrom (Swe) 71 68 72 68, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 71 71 69 68, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 72 70 69 68, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 68 70 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Swe) 68 68 73 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 65 72 70, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 70 72 67 70, Simon Wakefield 70 69 69 71, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 72 67 69 71, Colin Montgomerie 69 69 68 73

280 Nick Dougherty 73 68 69 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 68 70 69 73

281 David Drysdale 74 68 70 69, David Howell 71 71 69 70, Jamie Elson 71 70 69 71, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 71 71 68 71, Kevin Na (Kor) 69 68 71 73, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 70 71 66 74

282 Mark Pilkington 74 68 72 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 68 74 69, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 69 73 68 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 69 66 74 73

283 Warren Bennett 68 69 76 70, Benn Barham 68 70 75 70, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 70 71 72 70, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 72 66 74 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 71 71 73, Steen Tinning (Den) 72 70 68 73

284 Gary Emerson 73 68 72 71, Stuart Little 74 68 69 73

285 Ronan Rafferty 74 68 74 69, Richard Green (Aus) 74 67 73 71, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 71 69 73 72, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 70 70 73

287 Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 69 75 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 70 74 71, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 68 71 75 73

288 Markus Brier (Aut) 69 72 73 74, Steve Webster 76 66 72 74, Philip Golding 74 67 70 77, Simon Khan 72 70 69 77

291 Jonathan Lomas 70 72 76 73

292 Jochen Lupprian (Ger) 70 70 74 78

298 Garch Birch 71 69 78 80