Caddie's Role:Padraig Harrington said, quite believably, that if he had not won the 136th Open Championship he was not sure he would have wanted to play golf again.

Just in case you were thinking the carnage at Carnoustie over the closing holes on Sunday was not really that intense because a certain T Woods was not involved, think again.

This was the biggest moment in the career of Harrington, who already had a litany of great achievements to boast of.

For the former "Kid from Castellon", Sergio Garcia - or El Niño, as he was affectionately know until he started growing a beard - last Sunday was the biggest moment of a life that from a very young age has been golf. He did not fail (though to him right now it will probably seem he did); he just didn't win.

Just as the putts have not dropped for Padraig at crucial moments in many close misses in the past, they refused to drop for the young Spaniard last Sunday.

There will be a number of post-major discussions about the strategy adopted by the challengers over the final holes.

There are many major venues where you tell yourself if you adopt a strategy whereby you par the last four holes under pressure you can win.

Not that Jean Van de Velde needs to be trawled up again, but he stuck to his strategy on the 18th back in 1999. Then suddenly a situation presented itself unannounced, the rebound off the stand.

Padraig stuck to his strategy on 18 until it came to the play-off, where he had a two-shot lead standing on the final hole. Here, on the assumption Garcia would not birdie the hole, he turned the par four into a par five by hitting a rescue club off the tee.

Padraig is as astute a golfer as any; he adopts a strategy suited to his game. It resulted in a double bogey on the final hole of real play. Some strategy, you might say. Some hole, I say.

When your knees are twitching, as are everyone's when faced with the opportunity to make a complete hames of things with the world and its wife watching, a hole like the 18th at Carnoustie will test strategy, resolve and leg power.

I was driving toward Glasgow airport having finished my round with Retief and stayed around to watch the end of real play. I had kidded myself I would walk around the final few holes with Garcia until the difficulty of outside-the-ropes viewing struck me. I opted for the television screen in the caddie shack.

It was time for me to go so I tuned into the extensive coverage of Five Live radio's Open coverage, lost the signal just past Dundee and found Radio Gael, which had a stronger signal if not the most knowledgeable commentators.

Garcia had decided to hit a three iron off the first of the treacherous final holes, the 480-yard 15th. This is a very conservative option for an excellent driver of the ball. His reasoning must have been that if he hit driver with an assisting wind it would leave him with no room for error; there is gorse on either side of the fairway to collect an errant ball and bunkers well placed to the right side.

He left himself over 230 yards to the green. His approach shot came up short and he ended up with a sloppy bogey.

He also adopted a similar, long-iron, long-iron approach to 18 and ended up bogeying that.

He played the last two holes in two over, just as Padraig did. Without the pressure of trying to win a major, parring the last four at Carnoustie is an ordeal.

The tee shot on 18 leaves no room for error on either side of the fairway; the Barry Burn sucks up the slice and the boundary fence looms large for the hook.

An added problem is that you cannot see the landing area off the back tees, so there is always an element of doubt even after you have hit your tee shot.

The hole measures 499 yards in our yardage book, so hitting an iron off the tee is bringing the burn, which meanders back again about 10 yards in front of the green, into play. So you have the burn to negotiate twice.

The answer to the 18th and the three previous holes - much like the rest of the course - is that you just have to flat out hit a good shot regardless of strategy.

Padraig adopted the mentally resilient attitude after he hit his ball in the burn by the fairway and by the green. His were not mental errors or strategic blips, just things that happen under the strain of winning your first major on an extremely testing run-in.

He stressed after his victory that he kept focused on the fact he still had a chance to win - as opposed to lingering on the fact he might have blown it.

This is what separates the best from the rest: mental resilience. That is why these golfers have their mental coaches on hand all week long. Bob Rotella was never far from Padraig's side throughout the week.

The ingredients for major success are three: talent, technique and temperament.

Padraig has all of these in abundance, and thankfully Carnoustie didn't end with him contemplating the end of the road. Instead, as 136th Open Champion, he starts a new phase of an already illustrious career.