Harrington still not sparkling
Harrington shot 70 to move to four under par at the halfway stage and a stroke ahead of his nearest rival, Leslie Walker, the club pro at Dundalk.
Walker, who led after Thursday’s first round on 67, added a roller-coaster 72 yesterday and in turn is one clear of former amateur international Richard Kilpatrick with Simon Thornton, who had a best of the day 67, fourth on even par.
Scoring of this nature on a links as demanding as the European might sound promising in itself but Harrington himself is fully aware that this great lay-out on the Irish Sea in Co Wicklow has rarely if ever played as easily and has really been there for the taking over the past couple of virtually windless days.
Clearly conscious that he hasn’t taken full advantage, he spent close on three hours on the practice range yesterday afternoon.
“I didn’t play very well, said Harrington. “I seem to have lost a bit of the rhythm in the swing and as it was getting worse as the round went on, I can’t really complain with the score. I am working on things and when it doesn’t feel so good, you start compensating a bit. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.”
He certainly mixed the good with the bad, playing the back nine confidently and competently. Birdies at the 10th and 13th saw him through the turn in two under and he picked up another stroke at the long third. The fourth at the European is a really testing par four of 470 yards with a distinctly narrow landing area and yesterday was playing into whatever wind there was. Harrington chose a three iron for his tee shot and what ensued was far from pretty. He dropped the club at impact and watched as the ball arced away into heavy rough, well to the right of the fairway.
“I was trying not to hit it left because I’d been swinging a certain way,” he explained. “The bad shots are a result of me losing confidence in where I’m going to hit it, doing something I didn’t like and at times I’d lose focus thinking about it.”
That hole cost him a shot and another went at the short sixth where his tee shot bounced into a water hazard and after a poor chip, he had to hole from 12 feet to escape with a bogey.
“It was a combination of looking up and thinking I was aiming a bit right,” he said. “I should have stood off it and just realigned but I went ahead with it and made sure not to hit it right. Bad routine, bad competitive play and I can’t blame the swing there.”
The seventh at the European is another 470 yards par four of considerable difficulty and Harrington was well left of the green in two shots. The good news where next week is concerned, though, was that he kept leaving himself with shots that will prove of inestimable value at Turnberry and he duly got up and down with a panache that has been lacking in his game all year.
“I’m trying hard but I’m not relaxed,” he admitted. “I’m trying to focus and do my thing. The chipping and putting are good and if you’re really looking for good practice for the Open, there was certainly plenty of that. Some of the shots I hit out of the rough were just what I wanted and it was sometimes also a matter ofknowing when to take your medicine.
“What I’d be happy about is the clubbing, getting used to putting and chipping on links greens. That end of things is good. That’s been the weakest part of my game over the last number of weeks. Now it’s the best part.”
Harrington remains adamant he was right in his judgment to play here in an event offering a total prize fund of €26,000 as against the near €4m on offer in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.
“I am 100% glad to be here,” he declared. “You can’t beat playing links golf. It doesn’t matter how I do next week, whether I do good or bad, it will still save me shots being on a links golf course. I’ll see a chip and run, I’ll be clubbing better. There will be a number of little elements that links golf will help.
“Thinking about it sometimes makes you over think, makes you doubt it and you don’t commit. The idea is to leave here on Saturday where I’m committed to every shot.
“I’ve two more days because I failed miserably on it today. I’m competitive enough in terms of getting up and down, it’s just the longer game I need to be a bit more confident and committed and be better with my routine.
“I think I’ve putted well. I’ve scored better than I have played, the opposite of what I have done all year so that is a plus. Everything’s useful at this stage, the whole idea is to see what my game is like the week before the Open so that come Saturday evening I’m ready to go and play. I just need to keep going through it, trusting it. This is all Bob Rotella (his mental coach) stuff. It’s a very good week to see these things and focus on them, that’s what it is all about. I could go out on the range and stripe 100 balls perfectly, but that is not what I need to do. I’ve got to be competitive on the course.”
Tipperary’s Marian Riordan, the first female to play in the event, did herself proud with a second round of 76 for a total of 156 which unfortunately left her one outside the cut mark of 13 over. She dropped three shots in her last three holes having earlier bogeyed five of her first six holes so in the circumstances this was a very creditable performance.
