Rain man Harrington gets cut adrift

THE DREADED vista of missing the cut in his national championship became a reality last night for Padraig Harrington. Despite shooting a splendid 68 in the vile conditions prevailing early in the day and finishing on three under par, he missed out on the weekend by a shot.

Totally unexpectedly, the weather cleared up in the afternoon after a miserable morning. Birdies, eagles and even holes in one proliferated. It meant that the mark went to four under, the lowest in the history of the championship. So it meant the three times major champion had failed to qualify for the weekend for the fourth time this year.

While his critics will doubtless use this latest failure as a stick to beat him with, there is no denying that Murphy’s Law applies to him right now – anything that can go wrong for him these days will do just that.