Padraig Harrington flirted with the halfway cut at this year's Masters, rallied only just in time to make the weekend, and went on to finish the tournament as its leading European, but you won't find the Irishman celebrating his comeback. "I am not satisfied with a high finish," he said. "It won't go down on my CV. Finishing fifth in the Masters is nice, but we are all about getting out there and winning."

The height of his standards is to be applauded, for it is one of the reasons he won last year's Open Championship, and one of the reasons he is a good bet to win another. If only his determination, his belief and his stubborn refusal to lose heart had been shared at Augusta National by Justin Rose.

It should be pointed out that the young Englishman is not known for giving up the ghost. Sure, he is prone to blow-ups in the big events, not least in the season's first major, but he has tended to bounce back when the pressure is off, most notably in the final round at Augusta 12 months ago.

But his 2008 Masters will be remembered not just for the collapse triggered by a triple-bogey on the 15th hole of his second round, but for his subsequent failure to put that behind him. The tournament's first-round leader was only a shot better off than Harrington at the halfway stage, but their mentality over the weekend could hardly have been more different.

As his body language, and endearing honesty would reveal, Rose's head went down on Friday night, and stayed there. Asked after his second-round 78 whether his tournament was over, he nodded and said: "It's not the exciting weekend I was looking forward to."

After a third-round 73, he admitted that the problem was not with his golf, but with his state of mind. "There was a lack of adrenaline, big time," he said. "Technically, everything was in perfect shape, but obviously there was a slight mental adjustment over the two days. The game didn't go anywhere overnight. I just struggled to frame it up right in my mind."

And his final-round 76, which left him in a tie for 36th, on seven over par, led him to offer a brutal summary of his week: "I found it very difficult to grind once I had slipped out of the tournament."

That is not a comment you will hear from Harrington any time soon. At 36, he has been round the block often enough to know that, in the majors, more so than any other tournaments, setbacks need not be fatal. In the game's most prestigious events, where the courses are tough, and the pressure is on, progress can be procured by treading water.

After a final-round 72 left him on two under par, six shots behind winner Trevor Immelman, Harrington said he had been "in the zone" all day. Don't be surprised if he is back there for the year's other three majors, scrapping away at every last chance, and showing why he is still Europe's best hope of success.

"You have to be patient and get into position to challenge, and this [performance] says to me that I am doing the right things," he said. "When it comes to major championships, you want to be in the right mental state. If you do that, you know good things will happen."