Pádraig roars back to form with sizzling 64 at Firestone

JUST when it appeared his season was about to collapse under a barrage of missed cuts, Pádraig Harrington blasted a six under par 64 – his lowest round of the season – to grab a two stroke lead in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.

Having missed eight cuts from 16 strokeplay starts since he began working hard to improve his swing at the start of this year, the three-time major winner proved the old adage that form is fleeting and class permanent when he raced into a two shot lead in the $8.5 million €6m) extravaganza.

Tied for the lead on four under par with seven holes to play, Harrington holed three huge putts over 20 feet coming down the strech – for par at his 15th and for birdies at his 16th and 17th holes to finish the day two clear of playing partner Scott Verplank, Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng and South Africa’s Tim Clark, who all carded four under par 66s.

A birdie at the par-five 16th, where he holed a slick 10 footer down the hill, was quickly followed by two more in quick succession and a great par save.

At the first, he wedged to 12 feet off a perfect drive and then two-putted from 25 feet at the 526-yard second to join draw level with clubhouse leaders Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand and South Africa’s Tim Clark, who had opened with four under par 66’s. Then at the tough, 469 yard sixth, he flashed a greenside bunker shot 21 feet past the hole but rammed home the par saver to remain at the top of the leaderboard.

World number two Phil Mickelson produced three back nine birdies to card a level par 70 on his return to the tour after a six week absence to help his wife Amy and mother Mary in their battles with breast cancer.

While all this was going on, six-time champion Tiger Woods was lurking ominously on two under par with four to play. But it was a mixed day for the Irish.

Darren Clarke, the 2003 champion, carded a one over par 71 as Graeme McDowell battled valiantly against a wayward driver to card a three over par 73.

As for the young guns, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry suffered their share of troubles in the clinging rough and on the speedy greens.

Rusty in the short game department, McIlroy saw the irony as he holed a bunker shot from 52 feet at his final hole, the ninth, for a closing birdie and a five over par 75.

For Lowry, it was a baptism of fire on his World Golf Championship debut as he hit just four fairways en route to an eight over par 78.

THE reigning Irish Open champion confessed he was trying too hard to take advantage of a golden opportunity to make some serious money.

“I am obviously disappointed with my score but that is the way it goes. I think I just tried too hard,” said Lowry, who made the first of nine bogeys when his opening drive finished behind a towering oak tree after a ricochet off a mound and a cart path to the right of the 399-yard opening hole.

“I didn’t play well and I was trying too hard to hole putts and when you do that you just tense up.’’

McDowell and McIlroy are playing competitively for the first time since the Open and it showed. But unlike Lowry, they have bigger fish to fry in next week’s US PGA.

After mixing three birdies with six bogeys, McDowell said: “You don’t want to say that this is a warm up, because it is a huge event. You feel terrible saying that but we have just had a couple of weeks off after a big run.

“I am gearing up now for another mini season from here until Christmas. I really have to put the foot down and play some good golf from here in.

“I am not driving the ball well at the moment and that is the key to my game right now. I am here to get the driver sorted out this weekend. Apart from that my name is in really good shape.”

McIlroy never got to grips with the challenges of Firestone’s small, speedy greens as he mixed seven bogeys with just two birdies.

His opening hole, the 10th, summed up his round perfectly.

“I hit a good wedge and it spun back off the front of the green and I took three to get down,” McIlroy said.

“It is stupid stuff like that, taking five from the middle of the fairway.

“I’m just a bit rusty after two weeks not playing competitively. I just need to tighten everything up around the greens.”

Just 79 players will tee it up in today’s second round following the withdrawal with a rib injury of England’s Paul Casey, the world number three, after just six holes.

“I think I strained an intracostal,” said Casey, who was level par at the time.

“I actually did it a couple of weeks ago, a week before the Open, hitting drivers with my coach. I’ve got to be careful because there’s a lot of important golf left – FedExCup, Race to Dubai, a lot of big stuff.”