GOLF: As his old Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance might have said, "out of the shadows emerge heroes".

For much of yesterday, Paul McGinley, chasing the biggest win of his career, fought heroically, seeking to claim the PGA Championship title as much for Heather Clarke - wife of Darren - as for himself.

Ultimately, though, McGinley was unable to come out of the shadow cast by the giant frame of Argentina's Angel Cabrera in the BMW Championship at Wentworth.

McGinley shot a final-round 67 for 13-under-par 275; Cabrera's finishing 67 gave him a two-shot winning margin and the cheque for €666,660.

Afterwards, tears welled in McGinley's eyes as he spoke of his near miss and of how he dearly wanted to win it for Heather, who has been battling secondary cancer in recent months and had to undergo further surgery over the weekend. Clarke withdrew from the championship prior to Saturday's third round to be with his wife, but contacted McGinley to wish him luck before yesterday's final round.

"I've a lot of positives to take from this week," admitted McGinley, who will jump from 68th in the world rankings into the top-50 and so secure a place in next month's US Open field at Pinehurst No 2. "But, to be honest, everything is put into context with Heather this week.

"It was a pretty emotional weekend to say the least, with not much sleep. It's a very tough situation. Ali (Paul's wife) and her are very good friends, and our children are in the same class. I'm very close to Darren and to see what they are going through just tears the heart out of you."

As the final round developed into a two-horse race, McGinley, who finished second on his own and earned a cheque for €444,440, had grabbed a one-shot lead over Cabrera when he birdied the 12th, his sixth birdie of the day.

"I thought I had played fantastic. I was just beaten by somebody who played better with a two-shot advantage starting out. It's all ifs and buts. I'm disappointed not to win because I only had one intention this week and that was winning."

McGinley's runner-up position constituted his fourth top-10 finish of the European Tour season. And, although he was downbeat immediately after his round, McGinley was given a lift from Padraig Harrington, who finished tied-11th.

"Paul's always been a better player than he has performed," said Harrington. "He should be winning more often and he should be competing all the time. It's hard to win, but he should be regularly competing. This will give him confidence to believe he is as good as he is.

"Paul's a fine player, and his golf game is well up there. He should be playing in majors and it is definitely a miss that he is not. But it is his own doing too, he has got to go and perform and get those points to be in there."

Yesterday, even if the win eluded him, McGinley at least mustered sufficient points to ensure a return to the US Open for the first time since 2002. It also moved him up to seventh place in the European Tour Order of Merit, with earnings of €680,468. And yet, his thoughts were more with Heather's illness than with himself. "I really thought I was going to win this for her today. It just wasn't to be.

"I played well, but Angel has played better. Heather's a fighter. You've got to hand it to her, she's just a really good girl."

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