Golf: Harrington closes in on Ryder Cup place

Padraig Harrington was today aiming to take a major step towards securing his Ryder Cup place in the Algarve Portuguese Open at Quinta do Lago.

Harrington added a second round 70 to his opening 64 for a 10-under-par total of 134 to preserve his two-shot lead over the field.

Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth and England’s David Gilford were joint second on eight under with another Englishman, David Howell, and Spain’s Ignacio Garrido another stroke adrift.

Harrington already lies third in the qualifying table after an excellent start to the season that saw him finish second, second and fifth in consecutive weeks in Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai.

And victory tomorrow, his fourth European Tour win, would take him above the one million points barrier and almost certainly guarantee an automatic place in Sam Torrance’s 12-man team to face the United States at The Belfry in September.

‘‘It was tougher on Friday when it was cold and we were pretty unhappy to have got both rounds in strong winds,’’ the 29-year-old Dubliner admitted.

‘‘It was in a slightly different direction, which made the par fives out of range, so I’m delighted with that score and to be in contention at the weekend.’’

Forsyth’s 68 was one of the best rounds of a testing day and he was delighted to have rediscovered the consistency that saw him finish 46th on the Order of Merit in his rookie season last year.

‘‘That’s the third 68 in a row including the final round in Spain last week,’’ the 25-year-old from Glasgow said.

‘‘It’s the best two rounds together this season. I’d been having good stretches of nine or 12 holes but never keeping it together for 18.

‘‘I thought it was going to be tough to improve on last year but I knew I had to improve a few things in my game over the winter.

‘‘It’s taken longer than I thought, what with the weather being so bad and being unable to practise, but hopefully I’m starting to see the rewards and getting back the consistency.’’

Gilford’s score came mainly courtesy of two eagles in seven holes, both times holing out from around 100 yards the second one taking just one bounce before plummeting into the cup.

‘‘I’ve holed shots before but never twice in one round,’’ said the 35-year-old from Crewe. ‘‘I had birdies, bogeys and eagles so I was a bit inconsistent to say the least.

‘‘I haven’t played that much this season, I missed the cut in Dubai and Qatar and finished about 30th last week but it’s early days. The course is good and I like it a lot but it’s a long time since I played it.’’

It was also a long time since Colin Montgomerie had played here but the seven-time European number one did not offer that as an excuse for missing the cut.

Montgomerie, who won his first tour title here in 1989, added a 72 to his opening 73 to miss by one, the first time since 1998 he has missed two consecutive cuts.

The cut fell at level par with defending champion Gary Orr and Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance also missing out by one shot.