World Matchplay final: No one loves a good scrap as much as Paul McGinley. But this second-place thing is driving him crazy, really mad.

Yesterday, on a perfect day for the combat that drives him, the Irishman, with green, white and orange charity bracelets on his right wrist for inspiration, again found himself shaking the winner's hand, that of an opponent.

In yesterday's final of the HSBC World Matchplay, the 38-year-old Dubliner gave his all - as usual - but came up short. Some loose shots, a touch of mental fatigue and a couple of poor course management decisions, along with a touch of luck for his conqueror, all combined to leave McGinley as the nearly-man again in a big tournament.

In the end, the handshakes took place on the 17th green, where Michael Campbell closed out the match for a 2 and 1 win to become the latest in a list of major winners who have gone on to win the matchplay title. It gave him the biggest financial top prize in golf.

For McGinley there was the sense he had missed a golden opportunity.

"Congratulations to Mikey, he has had a wonderful year," McGinley graciously conceded. "He's absolutely buzzing with confidence. That US Open win has done wonders for him, and that's the kind of kick I need, to get a big win like that."

To be sure, matchplay is a peculiar beast. Although Campbell was one up after the morning's 18 holes, it all seemed to slip further away on the Dubliner early on in the second round. As McGinley made the walk from the fifth green to the sixth tee in the afternoon, his position had deteriorated. The interval deficit had grown to three down. But if there was any inner desperation, McGinley didn't show it. In fact, it was here his fightback started.

The sixth is a par four that is all about placement off the tee. McGinley's three-iron tee-shot was followed by a nine-iron approach to five feet. He rolled in the putt. Two down.

On the seventh, another par four, his eight-iron approach to eight feet again won him the hole with a conceded birdie after Campbell's approach airmailed the green and the Kiwi failed to get up and down. One down.

Two holes later, McGinley was back on level terms.

Again, Campbell instigated his own downfall with a pulled six-iron approach to the green that nestled behind a silver birch. Chipping through the tree's branches, he failed to reach the green. Meanwhile, McGinley, who had missed the green with his approach, chipped to seven feet and holed the par putt. All square.

It was to remain nip and tuck for much of the homeward run; but not for it all. Campbell edged one ahead by winning the 12th, and it was an unlikely win. "A huge turnaround," he agreed.

The New Zealander's approach shot was pulled so badly he finished inches from the out-of-bounds fence. Crucially, it was six inches inside, and, although hampered by wires, he chopped down on the ball and watched it come to rest five feet from the hole. He sank the birdie putt. One up.

But McGinley's fighting instincts resurfaced and he bounced back by taking the 13th. All square.

Then, it all went scrappy, and the scrappier it got, the more wrong it went for McGinley, and he won't recall a couple of shots in particular with any great relish.

The first misdemeanour came on the 15th. With Campbell's tee-shot in trouble down the right, in a bare lie and trees blocking his approach to the green, McGinley assessed his approach shot from a perfect position in the middle of the fairway. But his five-iron approach was pushed some 20 yards off line to the right. Given a reprieve, and given his lie, Campbell managed to play a fine approach to the edge of the green. McGinley, though, had to chip over a bunker to a lightning fast green. The ball ran nine feet by the hole, and he missed the par putt to drop one behind.

What happened next will give McGinley nightmares.

Campbell seemed to open the door again on the 16th when, playing conservatively off the tee with a fairway wood, his tee-shot pitched into one of the bunkers that lurk all the way down the left side. It was an opening McGinley didn't take, snap-hooking his tee-shot into trees. He did well to find the ball, which was positioned next to a tree trunk, and he played a seven-iron recovery into the semi-rough.

"It's a good job I'm only five-feet-seven. If I'd been Ernie Els' height, I wouldn't have been able to play it," he managed to quip.

But it was to no avail, as Campbell, sufficiently far back in the fairway bunker, played an approach shot to the edge of the green and two-putted for a winning par to go two up.

He closed out the match with a fine birdie on the 17th, hitting a three-wood approach just short of the green and pitching to within inches of the hole.