The vast experience of Ryder Cup heroes Colin Montgomerie and Paul McGinley brought them both the victories they desired so much at Valderrama yesterday - Montgomerie a staggering eighth Order of Merit title, McGinley the biggest win of his career.

Montgomerie might not have been happy with his day's work, a three-over-par 74 that saw him finish joint third in the Volvo Masters 24 hours after he led the event by six strokes.

But that was easily enough to see him to another money list crown six years after the last of his seven in a row. New Zealander Michael Campbell would have needed to finish second as it turned out, but was down in 14th spot.

''I didn't need this, I just wanted it,'' said Montgomerie on being presented with a trophy he knows so well.

McGinley's comeback during the week was as brilliant as Montgomerie's this season, the 38-year-old recovering from nine behind the Scot at halfway to win by two from Sergio Garcia.

It was the fourth European Tour success for the Dubliner in 361 starts and his first for four years.

The end of that season saw McGinley denied by a closing birdie from his close friend Padraig Harrington in the Volvo Masters and this year he just lost out at the BMW Championship, NEC world championship and the World Matchplay at Wentworth.

Those near-misses were forgotten, though, as he produced a superb closing 67 for a 10-under-par total of 274.

After a double bogey and triple bogey in his first seven holes on Thursday he did not drop a shot after the opening hole of the second round.

But the greater achievement has to be that of Montgomerie.

Asked if he had had to dig deep during a season which followed a separation from his wife last year and saw him 83rd in the world in January and - he is now close to the top ten - he said: ''Very deep. I think that says it all.

''But at the start of this month I believed I could become number one again and I was so glad the last event was here, a place I love.

''I can't compare it to the other seven yet, but this is very special. It almost got to the stage before where it was expected, but to do it after a six-year gap against the competition means a lot.''

There is no doubt now that he will earn an eighth Ryder Cup cap at the K Club near Dublin near September.

He needed a wild card from captain Bernhard Langer last time - crucial in his rehabilitation, he admits - because it came just as his wife was divorcing him and his game was only just coming together again.

Already, ten months before the side is decided, he has more points than he finished with in the last campaign and also more than David Howell, Paul McGinley and Ian Poulter amassed in qualifying for the 2004 team.

The one disappointment remains that he was failed to win a major.

But after being written off by some as a fading force when he went five seasons without a top-10 finish in any of them and then failed to qualify for this year's Masters he was runner-up in the Open to Tiger Woods.

When he returned to St Andrews 11 weeks later Woods was not there and Montgomerie won the Dunhill Links Championship, so ending 19 months without a victory.

When he finished third in the American Express world championship in San Francisco seven days after that he went top of the money list for the first time since 1999.

There he stayed and from there he went away from the rest, stretching his lead so nobody could say he won the title again only because of ''Jakartagate'' - the incident when video showed him replacing his ball in the wrong spot en route to finishing fourth in the Indonesian Open.

When he saw it himself he gave his prize money to charity, but it stayed on the Order of Merit.

Montgomerie is looking forward to having Garcia and McGinley as team-mates against the Americans next September.

It is the Spaniard - first, third, second and second in his last four counting events - who actually leads the table now, while McGinley has moved into third place both on the points standings and the final Order of Merit.

Three years ago McGinley sank the winning putt at The Belfry and last year he was unbeaten in Detroit.

He is also a past winner of the World Cup with Harrington, but said last night: ''This is selfish - this is for Paul McGinley.

''I am absolutely so pleased to win a title of this size and to do it in the style I did. Those three near-misses this year really hurt me. I was absolutely devastated after losing the final of the World Matchplay (to Campbell).

''I put a lot of what happened in those losses into practice and that I was able to do it means a huge, huge, huge amount to me.''

He was still four adrift starting the last day, but got on terms when he birdied the fourth and seventh and then first Garcia double-bogeyed the short sixth and Montgomerie did the same on the next.

The two overnight leaders both made a mess of the 10th as well, whereas McGinley hit his approach to within 18 inches, but the key hole was, almost inevitably, the long 17th.

Montgomerie had taken seven there in his late third round collapse, but McGinley, after also choosing to lay up short of the water, pitched to eight feet and made it.

He was three clear and could not be caught.