World Cup hopes take a dive
That puts the much fancied Irish pair a mammoth eight shots behind English hotshots David Howell and Luke Donald, who shot a fabulous 59, with only three nations, South Africa, Argentina and Portugal behind them in the pecking order.
While accepting they have left themselves with a mountain to climb, Harrington and McGinley are probably clutching at straws when hoping that a drastic deterioration in the weather predicted for the next three days will help them to make up the lost ground. Ironically, they began both nines with a hat-trick of birdies only to quickly lose the momentum and finish each with bogeys.
Both were culpable. At the ninth McGinley was a long way from the hole in three shots after driving behind a tree but Harrington looked in good shape after splitting the fairway with a big drive. However, he took on a flag tucked tight to the right side of the green and shortsided himself by pushing a straightforward seven iron. He took three more to get down.
At the water surrounded 18th, McGinley was in position A off the tee and when he found himself between clubs, opted for a hard eight iron, but he caught it heavy and the ball splashed into the lake. Harrington, in rough off the tee, took three to get down from the front edge.
In contrast, Howell and Donald delivered on their prediction that the Arnold Palmer designed Victoria Course would throw up a birdie-fest.
In all, they signed for 11 along with an eagle at the third where Howell hit a superb five wood 246 yards into the heart of the green. Of course, they also kept a bogey off their card and Ireland and South Africa were the only teams to have two apiece.
Adding to the Irish pair's embarrassment was being beaten by a shot by their partners Venezuela, who had to qualify to come here. One of their players, Manuel Bermudez, has no world ranking at all and the other, Carlos Larrain, comes in at 1,159th!
McGinley initially refused to talk to the media while Harrington was as dejected as I have ever seen him. When I finally caught up with McGinley he commented: "I have very little to say. Padraig played fine but I let him down badly and I'm very disappointed. I'll have an early dinner and get a lot of rest, maybe a bit of fatigue got me today. We have a lot of ground to make up although a change in the weather might help us.
"It was a very disappointing score but thankfully there's a poor weather forecast and there are still 54 holes to go," said Harrington.
"It would have to suit us if the conditions got nasty. We never holed a putt out there today. We started well but only shot five under."
In fairness, Harrington had no reason for excuses because he was very much the strong man of the effort. He knocked his approach to the first to a foot, rolled in a seven footer at the second and had an eagle chance from 20 feet at the third. He went on to birdie four of the first five holes on the back nine and was unfortunate at the long 17th when his tee shot rolled into a sprinkler head in the middle of the fairway. He was given a free drop but got a bad lie and a five wood from 232 yards found a watery grave.
McGinley could do no better than a par five and his disappointment at finding the hazard off a perfect tee shot at the last can only be imagined.
Howell and Donald were understandably thrilled at shooting below the magic 60 mark. They were ten under after ten and as Donald acknowledged "we thought anything was possible at that stage." Mere pars followed at the next four before a further hat-trick of birdies regained the momentum. They both claimed there were no nerves as they stood on the 18th needing a par for 59.
"It wasn't mentioned but I was getting ridiculously aggressive to try and shoot 58," Howell admitted. He paid the penalty by putting his approach in the water but Donald somehow held his nerve in spite of knocking his first putt from the front of the green eight feet past the hole. To his great credit and Howell's relief, he safely sank the return.
Few could have predicted three of the first four teams starting this morning's foursomes would be Argentina, South Africa and Ireland for they were all among the more favoured sides starting out.
Instead, best placed to upset the English applecart are India (Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa) and Australia (Mark Hensby and Peter Lonard), both 60, and Sweden (Niclas Fasth and Henrik Stenson) 61, while Sergio Garcia and Miguel-Angel Jimenez for Spain on 62 are probably the greatest threat to the leaders and holders.
* Meanwhile, Irish amateur international Martina Gillen failed in her bid to make it to the final stages of the Ladies European Tour Q-school at La Cala Resort in southern Spain yesterday. Her two round total of 12 over left her well adrift of the projected cut of eight over with some rounds to be completed this morning.
Martina, who plays out of Beaverstown, added an 81 to her first round 77 on the par 73 North Course, one of three at the FBD-owned complex, which is the biggest golf resort on the Costa del Sol. The first phase is being led by French amateur Julie Berton on five under.
The only Irish representative at the Q-school, which begins at La Cala's North Course on Saturday, is Hazel Kavanagh, who lost her tour card this year. She will compete against 90 others over 72 holes for one of the 30 full tour membership places.
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