Oliver Wilson was again left wondering when he will claim his first victory as a professional after the HSBC Champions trophy was snatched from underneath his nose by Sergio García at the second extra hole of a play-off in Shanghai yesterday.

While a win cannot be far away for Wilson, a player who has grown in stature in the past 12 months, García has a different proposition to consider — namely, can he overtake Tiger Woods as the world No1 after a result that moved him above Phil Mickelson into second place in the world rankings? And that even though he has yet to win a major championship.

Wilson, who had led García by one stroke as he arrived at the 18th tee here at the Sheshan International Golf Club, was taken into a play-off for the £507,000 first prize after the Spaniard, playing in the group ahead, produced a birdie to put the pressure on his Europe Ryder Cup team-mate from Mansfield.

In the event, Wilson did well to sink a difficult par putt to guarantee the play-off and considered himself unlucky when his birdie attempt at the second extra hole grazed the cup but stayed above ground. He had had a 15-foot putt for a victory that came up short the first time around, but García was not about to give him another chance, sinking his birdie putt of about 12 feet from the fringe of the green to claim his nineteenth win worldwide and his eighth on the European Tour.

Wilson, 28, has finished second eight times since he joined the tour in 2005, five of them this year. This was his second defeat in a play-off in 2008 — the first was to Miguel Ángel Jiménez at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth — and his fourth in total. After climbing 13 places to No42 in the world rankings, he should also have guaranteed a debut at the Masters next year.

A maiden victory for the Englishman, as García was quick to point out, is a racing certainty. “I'm getting to the stage where second is not good enough,” Wilson said. “There was a time when I was pleased to be finishing there, but that's gone. It's about time I took my chance.”

García was left fielding questions about where he goes from here. His first task, he said, is to win a major and then to challenge to be the world's best. With Woods recuperating from a serious knee operation, the No1 spot could be up for grabs around the time of the Masters if the American does not play between the new year and April. Among the others chasing him are Padraig Harrington, Mickelson, who finished tied eighth here, and Vijay Singh.

On a lighter note, García was asked what he was going to do with the prize-money. “I'm just going to try to put it in a bank that doesn't go bankrupt,” he said, before being reminded that it was HSBC's money that he was pocketing.