Ankle injury threatens to derail Harrington

'BEWARE the injured golfer' is one of the game's best known expressions and hopefully it will apply to Pádraig Harrington as he goes into the weekend of the US PGA Championship at Hazeltine National.

The Dubliner, who stood at one under par starting yesterday's second round, was severely hampered by the recurrence of ankle ligament damage that has bothered him for the best part of ten years. His inability to transfer his weight on to his left side meant that Harrington was spraying the ball all over the place and he did well to finish in 73 for an even par total of 144, six behind a quartet of pacesetters - Mark Calcavecchia (one of his playing partners), Justin Leonard, 2001 US Open champion Retief Goosen and the little-known American Rich Beem.

Calcavecchia and Leonard are former Open champions and quite clearly Goosen relishes the challenge of a 'major' in the States having also finished runner-up in this year's Masters. They certainly are nicely poised to challenge for the second major championship of their careers over the next couple of days, while one shouldn't rule out Beem who matched Leonard in setting a new course record of 66.