Hard going for Harrington
But to listen to him afterwards, you might have felt his chance of joining Harry Bradshaw as the only Irish winner of the PGA Championship was already gone.
In truth, he probably should have been thankful to be only three out of the lead held by fellow Irishmen Peter Lawrie and Graeme McDowell along with Frenchman Philippe Lima.
Having cracked a huge drive down the par five 18th, he carved his five wood second shot into rhododendron bushes lining the fairway and had to take a penalty drop. He escaped with a par, however, knocking in a 15-foot putt.
“It was a poor day,” Harrington lamented. “I just couldn’t get into it and made a lot of mistakes. I was a bit flat. When I’m swinging the club well, I get frustrated by hitting bad shots and I get down on myself.
“When you’re not playing well, you’re prepared to fight a bit more. The only time I felt good out there was at the last when getting up and down after a penalty shot. Every other time, I was just too relaxed, too casual, it’s only when I have my back to the wall that I hit the better shots.
“But I’m pleased that I’m only three back. I probably would have taken it going out. The morning is something to look forward to. I spoke with trepidation going into the tournament but that was about the greens. I probably took a different attitude to them than in other years and I definitely holed a few putts, like one at 16 that never looked like going and somehow it did.”
It’s not easy for Harrington to concentrate fully on the task considering his father, Paddy, is extremely ill at home in Dublin. And very much the same applies to Darren Clarke whose wife, Heather, is also battling cancer and spent the last 24 hours in hospital for check-ups.
Like Harrington, he is putting as brave a face on things as possible. He is a Liverpool supporter so we wondered if his startlingly red shirt was a tribute to the club’s remarkable victory in the Champions League.
“You’re a sharp card,” quipped the Anfield season ticket holder. “Today was the same old story. I was just not hitting it well, not doing anything right at all. It’s a grind every day.”
Like Clarke, Paul McGinley lives just down the road from Wentworth and was hoping for great things. Instead, he struggled to put any shape on his round.
He completed the outward nine in two over par before picking up his first birdie at the long 12th. Five pars followed before a two putt birdie at the 18th saw him round in 72. “It was a bad day,” he admitted. “I just had to grind it out and I’m very disappointed at how I’m playing.”
Damien McGrane, out in the very last match of the day, looked capable of threatening the leaders, when a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th moved him to three under par but he dropped one at the short 14th before getting it back with a birdie at the 18th to close with a commendable 69.
The leading three players on the Irish PGA region order of merit qualify for this tournament but it will be a serious struggle for any of them to make the cut. David Higgins, leader of the Challenge Tour money list, would have been hoping for better than 75, a mark subsequently equalled by Philip Walton, thanks to a spectacular eagle, birdie finish.
Donegal man Conor Mallon closed on 76. Finbarr Madden, whose father, Con, is a Corkman and whose cousin Hillary, is the secretary/manager at Monkstown, qualified for the tournament as a member of the English eastern division of the PGA, shot 78.
By the end of the day, it certainly was a very cluttered leader board. Among those a stroke out of the lead was Ben Curtis, the American who has found the going more than a little tough since his Open Championship victory in 2003. He holed a big eagle putt on the 18th green and he should at least do better than last year when he missed the cut. And there was drama, too, at the very end of the day when the Scot, Steven O’Hara, eagled the 17th and 18th to get to three under par.
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