Pádraig Harrington birdied the final two holes at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston tonight, but it was still not enough to take the title after a closing round of three-under-par 68 left him on 15-under.

The Dubliner had an eagle opportunity on the par-five 18th to join clubhouse leaders Jason Dufner and playing partner Scott Verplank on 16 under, but the ball stayed above the hole.

Steve Stricker saved Harrington from wondering what might have been, when he got up and down for a birdie on the 18th to claim the title and top spot in the FedEx Cup play-off standings from Tiger Woods.

Stricker had also birdied the 17th as he closed with a four-under-par 68 to take the title by one shot on 17-under.

Harrington had earlier raced into the lead after four birdies over the opening nine holes moved him to 16-under.

But a bogey five on the 10th was followed two holes later by a double bogey as he slipped off top spot.

Although he missed out on the title, Harrington moves into the top 20 of the FedEx Cup with two events still to come.

Tiger Woods earlier shot a wonderful 63 to finish the day eight-under-par but was held back from making serious inroads on the leaderboard by his third-round 72.