Super dad Padraig Harrington grabbed the Order of Merit in a heart-stopping finish at Valderrama.

Little son Paddy, 3, watched on TV with Harrington and his mum Caroline in the players’ lounge as Sergio Garcia’s late mistake helped Dad snatch the money title from Paul Casey.

The clan faced an agonising 60-minute wait to discover if Harrington would become European No 1 for the first time.

And it proved to be worth the wait as Sergio Garcia’s 72nd hole bogey lifted him into a vital three-way tie for second - erasing the disappointments 2001 and 2002 when he was second in the money race.

Harrington said: “Paddy wasn’t born until 2003, so it's a special feeling and great for the whole family. The text messages are building up on my mobile already”

Harrington then ‘thanked’ Garcia for the final hole cock-up that made him No 1 by just €35,252.

Harrington grinned: "Sergio owed me one. I hit the perfect putt to win the Barclays Classic in a play-off in 2004 and didn't win.

"He went on to win that one so I was feeling that he owed me one and I said it to him at the prize-giving afterwards.

"At first Sergio was saying how nice it was of him to give me the Order of Merit.

"But then I reminded him that I had given him a tournament back then and it was one of my second places. But these things even themselves out."

Harrington had 29 second places coming into the Volvo Masters and needed a 30th to earn enough to overtake Casey and capture the Order of Merit for the first time.

Harrington said: “It’s always been a big goal of mine to win the Order of Merit. I’ve come a long way.”