FOR ONE brief moment Bradley Dredge, pictured, was on the verge of winning his first big European Tour event at the Smurfit European Open in Ireland yesterday.

In truth, however, only an almost complete self destruction by New Zealander Michael Campbell elevated Dredge towards the top spot.

Dredge, an early clubhouse leader with five-under par, watched as Campbell threw away a five-shot lead before scraping home on the last hole by one shot.

It left the Blackwood golfer in a four-way tie for second place and equalled the Welshman's best-ever finish on tour with the £133,000 cheque virtually guaranteeing him a place in the Open.

Seven places are up for grabs from a mini Order of Merit which began at the end of May and finishes next Sunday. Irish Open winner Soren Hansen is a certain qualifier and Dredge lies second.

"I'm trying to win a tournament - I would love to win," he said. "I'll just keep plugging away and hopefully make fewer mistakes in the earlier rounds."

Campbell, though, was still breathing a huge sigh of relief after almost blowing the £333,330 first prize.

Having bogeyed the last four holes, Campbell escaped with the victory only because Padraig Harrington missed a three-foot putt on the 17th and followed the Maori into the lake at the par-five last.

Harrington, after the 17th runners-up finish of his career, said: "I'm gutted. Michael got so much ahead he saw the winning post and started to bleed.

"To be honest it was a chance for anybody else to win the tournament. Certainly a good chance for me.

"At the last I was trying to hit it as close as I could. I felt good about making an eagle (he had done it in the third round) and couldn't bring myself to hit it in the middle of the green.

"I had one eye on the flag, pulled it a little, it drew on the wind and there you have it." Campbell, amazed that a closing 73 and a six-under aggregate of 282 was sufficient, said: "Personally, I'm absolutely elated at my achievement in winning.

"But professionally I'm disappointed at the way I performed at the end. I got too far ahead of myself and that's something I've been trained not to do.

"I made some stupid, ridiculous mistakes and I'm very lucky. I've learnt my lesson now and I don't think it will happen again. I will become a better player because of it.

"I feel for Padraig. It was his home crowd and he had a great chance to win. But he is a great player, has all the shots in the world and one day he will do wonderful things."

Harrington, who hopes that might be at next week's Open at Muirfield, ended up sharing second place with Dredge, Scot Paul Lawrie and South African Retief Goosen who, when he finished on five under, was five behind Campbell and headed for Dublin Airport 40 minutes away.

If the Kiwi had three-putted the last it would have been a five-way play-off, but with only four of them present. Goosen could not have got back in time.

Campbell jumped from 19th to fourth on the European Order of Merit, while Goosen, winner of the money list crown last season, leads seven-time number one Colin Montgomerie by just under £200,000.

Montgomerie also went into the water at the last - for the second time in three days - and finished joint sixth.

"I played terribly, scored terribly and deserved what I got. End of story," said the Scot, who would have gone back to the top of the money list if he had triumphed.

* Bassaleg's Phillip Price pulled out of the tournament on Friday with a neck injury.