Near the end of what was not to be, Padraig Harrington looked like one of those trick-shot performers who crop up on the circuit every so often to entertain the corporate clients.

With one leg contorted backwards out of the waist-high greenside bunker on the 14th hole late on Saturday afternoon, the Dubliner faced an impossible shot knowing he had to either hole out or get the ball dead if he was to keep alive his semi-final match with Ernie Els in the HSBC World Matchplay Championship.

He did neither; and the South African secured a 5 and 4 victory over the Irishman. Yet, for Harrington, defeat didn't have the same sour taste as it normally would. This time, considering his wholly visible injury, it was almost a feat to get so far and to be competitive for so long. Also, receiving 16.8 world ranking points and a cheque for 173,313 eased the pain somewhat.

For much of the day, Harrington had been nagged by the numbing effect of the thumb injury inflicted the previous day when he inadvertently smashed his hand into a tree on the way to defeating Thomas Levet.

On Saturday morning, having woken intermittently throughout the night to check on the damage, he ventured onto the range for his warm-up routine still unsure whether he would be able to play. It was, as he pointed out, "50-50" if he could play and the decision was only taken after the warm-up.

"First of all," he explained, "I tried putting the thumb on the side of the grip and I actually went halfway through the bag with that. But when I got to the longer clubs, it wasn't working so well. Then I practised with the thumb off and the forefinger off as a drill, and I got reasonably comfortable with that . . . but the only thing with that is that you have to hit the ball easier and I was losing a bit of distance on my irons. And, then, when I hit one harder, I struggled with my distance selecting a club because I wasn't really sure how it was going to come out."

If there is any good news to emerge from his injury, it is that it is short-term and should heal quickly.

In fact, Harrington, being the range rat he is, joked he would expect to be back hitting balls on Tuesday in what is a rare week off from competitive golf. The Dubliner has played for the past six straight weeks and has a week's rest before teeing up in next week's Volvo Masters in Valderrama and then taking yet another transatlantic trip to play in the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the finale to the official US Tour season.

If the real damage to Harrington's cause in taking on Els was inflicted with that injury on Friday afternoon, the irony was that it was his putting rather than his long game that let him down in Saturday morning's 18-holes, during which Els established a three-hole advantage.

Of all players playing on the West Course, Els is one that shouldn't be handed such a lead and it was a hard ask - especially in the circumstances - for Harrington to claw back such a deficit.

"Starting out, it was awkward to say the least. It distracted me a number of times. But I didn't really play too badly . . . I just didn't hole enough putts, just made a few too many mistakes."

Against Els, that was never a recipe for success.