In end, long hitters fail to take winning steps

Angel Cabrera, Dustin Johnson, and Padraig Harrington were not playing in the same group, but they finished with the same score (15-under-par 269, two shots behind Steve Stricker) and each missed some chances with the leaderboard lighting up on the back nine.

With Jason Dufner leading in the clubhouse at 16-under, Cabrera stepped to the 528-yard par-5 18th at 15 under, and with a chance to put a feather in his cap - a birdie, or maybe even an eagle. The two-time major champion from Argentina then took a mighty lash and hit one of his worst drives of the day, one that gave him no chance to go for the green in two. He laid up and knocked his approach to 20 feet, then missed the birdie putt.

“I hit a bad tee shot,’’ said Cabrera, who won the Masters in a playoff in April and was hoping for extra holes here after a 6-under 65. “Had a good look at the putt, and then the putt just went straight. I thought it was going to break a little, and it just went straight.’’

Johnson had no problem getting to the 18th green. In fact, he ranked first in driving distance in this FedExCup playoff event, averaging 316 yards. The 25-year-old second-year pro was fourth in driving distance entering the Deutsche Bank, with a 307-yard average. But he ranked 54th in putting for the week and - unlike his drives - he couldn’t hit the big ones.

“I drove it straight, which is a big key for me, just couldn’t get the ball in the hole,’’ said Johnson, who hit eight fairways, 11 greens, and had 25 putts en route to a 66. “They said Angel had the same putt [on 18], too. I hit it right where I wanted to, just missed it.’’

Harrington, a three-time major champ with nerves of steel, looked like the favorite after he shot 4-under 32 on the front to get to 16-under. Then he hit it sideways, taking a penalty drop after his tee shot on 10 (bogey) and taking a penalty stroke on No. 12.

“I made some mistakes around the turn,’’ said Harrington, who would have forced a playoff if not for the penalties. “I took double bogey on 12. It was really a good double bogey. I was very unlucky with the tee shot. I pulled it down the left. It caught the limb of a tree and it went unplayable. Such is life.’’

Harrington didn’t have the luck of the Irish there, but he kept grinding. He birdied 17 and had a 12-footer for eagle on 18.

“I’m disappointed because it was in my control,’’ said Harrington, who lost the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August to Tiger Woods when he triple-bogeyed the par-5 16th, knocking a flop shot into the water and sinking his chances. “I was leading the [Deutsche Bank] tournament and going into the back nine it was mine to lose.’’

Life was grand most of the week for Harrington, whose galleries were plentiful and vocal.

“Yeah, obviously Boston, there was a lot of Irish people here and they came out and supported me,’’ said Harrington, whose 68 capped four rounds in the 60s. “They would have liked to see me deliver. Unfortunately I didn’t.’’

Johnson was hoping to get some good news delivered from Fred Couples, captain of the US Presidents Cup team.

“I think I’m a good asset to the team, and I’m a very good competitor and I like to win,’’ said Johnson, who despite his prodigious length has little chance of being one of Couples’s two picks for the October event in San Francisco against an International all-star team. Couples has said he will pick Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan, although he officially will announce his choices today.

“I did everything I could to shoot a good score and just fell a little short,’’ said Johnson, who summed up this threesome’s afternoon to a tee.

Jim Hoban can be reached at j_hoban@globe.com.