Harrington rues another missed chance to lead

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON lamented an ‘‘opportunity missed’’ after blowing a good start to squander the outright lead in the second round of the BMW Asian Open in Taiwan.

He had been at his pinpoint best in firing a six-under 66 on the opening day, when he played out a flawless round in squalid conditions over the Ta Shee course, having a birdie putt on all 18 holes.

And he looked to be straight back into the groove when, having been out shortly after 7am from the 10th tee, he picked up a birdie two at the 11th and then moved into the lead on his own with a 35-foot birdie at the next.

The 31-year-old, seeking to gain an early lead in the Order of Merit in what is the first event of the 2003 European Tour, then stretched his lead to two with a 25-foot putt for birdie on the 15th.

But after turning in 33, Harrington bogeyed the first and then, after holing an eight-footer for birdie at the third, disappointingly dropped back to eight under with a bogey on the ninth, his last.

Afterwards last year's money list runner-up blamed a lack of sharpness for his performance.

He said: ''I started well, but my concentration wasn't good today. I should have done better as I was swinging the club fine. Some days it's like that. I wasn't in it today.

''I don't think the course played a hell of a lot different to yesterday, I just didn't do the job, and it's always annoying to bogey the last. I should have been a few better. It's an opportunity missed.''

Meanwhile, in-form Maarten Lafeber could be forgiven for feeling a touch of deja vu when he tees up for the third round.

For the third time in five weeks, the 28-year-old Dutchman is tournament leader at the halfway stage but he is still waiting for his maiden tour title.

A second successive 66 kept up Lafeber's impressive habit of hitting the ground running in tour events, but the test now is whether he can finally hold his nerve over the distance.

The former Dutch, Swiss and Spanish amateur champion has been in the form of his life over the past two months, finishing in the top 25 finishers of his last six tour events.

But after hitting five birdies and an eagle in his six-under round to stand on a total of 132, Lafeber will probably be finding it hard not to cast his mind back to France and Spain.

There, at the Lancome Trophy and the Madrid Open, he opened with a pair of 65s but fell away badly as the finishing line neared.

This time he has a greater cushion however, with Harrington and Trevor Immelman back on eight-under 136, and he is determined not to look to the past.

He said: ''I'm just going to stick to my game plan I won't try to be a hero on the golf course.

The morning was marred by news of the death of John Daly's mother Lou from lung cancer. The big-hitting American had been with his mother for the past few weeks but followed her advice to play in Taiwan this week.

Daly learnt about the death during his opening round of 70 on Thursday but decided to carry on, in accordance with his mother's wishes, and posted a 74 yesterday for a level-par total of 144.

American Charles Howell III leads the Australian Open after a five under round of 65 having had his disastrous round of 80 on the opening day wiped off his scorecard after play was abandoned.

Following the unplayable conditions of Thursday at the Victoria Golf Club, yesterday saw 28 players break par with Howell declaring himself jokingly 'the most improved player'.