Harrington aiming to take route 66

IRELAND’S Pádraig Harrington has targeted a pair of 66s over the weekend to rescue hopes of capturing the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.

The triple Major winner finds himself well down the board at one under par and nine shots adrift of the leading US duo of Tiger Woods and Nick Watney through two rounds of the $7m (€4.7m) event.

Woods snatched five birdies in a bogey-free 67 to join Watney, who carded a 70 on the Sheshan course.

Spain’s Alvaro Quiros, and the only European among the leading dozen, eagled his second hole on the way to a 66 to share third place on nine-under par with World No. 2 Phil Mickelson (66) and former US Amateur champion, Ryan Moore (69).

Ryder Cup winning star, Anthony Kim (69) is in sixth spot on eight-under par while Californian Pat Perez (69) is at seven under par to make it six Stars and Stripes flags atop the board.

Irish Open champion, Shane Lowry continues to head the Irish trio after adding a 74 to drop to a share of 15th place on four under par.

Rory McIlroy carded a four under par 68 to end the round tied on three under par with Race to Dubai rivals Lee Westwood (71) and Martin Kaymer (74).

Harrington will see his goal of capturing a second European No. 1 crown end if he does not succeed in the Chinese financial capital.

And even if he should pull off the €807,000 first prize cheque, those 17 players above him on the money list will add to their cash pile given the Shanghai event is a no-cut tournament.

However, Harrington remains upbeat: “Funny I played better on Thursday, as I had a lot more opportunities but then today, I played like a 69 and it was a fair reflection on my round,” he said.

“I am here to improve every week and there is plenty of opportunity to improve over the next two days, and that’s what I will be trying to do, to get better with every day.

“So as long as the leaders don’t run away, it wouldn’t take that much to get to 12 or 13-under par. So two 66s is certainly reasonable out there.”

McIlroy also was a lot more content after spending close to three hours on the range late on Thursday following his 73.

“I figured out on the range that my ball position was a bit too far forward, so I wasn’t getting the proper strike, and I wasn’t getting the pressure on the ball going forward,” he said.

“I had lost about 10 yards with my irons in particular, and I was really struggling but today it was a lot better.”

However McIlroy didn’t get the good start he wanted as his opening drive came to rest behind a tree, so he had to pitch the ball backwards en route to a bogey.

But he settled down in the company of Mickelson to show his potential Celtic Manor rival his worth.

“Phil Mickelson actually said to me on the 16th, when I took on the flag for an eventual birdie, that it was a bold shot I played but given there is not a cut this week, I had nothing to lose,” said McIlroy.

“After what happened at the first, I was trying to shoot as low as possible and it was nice to finish the way I did with four birdies in my last six holes, as I hit a lot of quality shots coming in.”

Lowry had dropped four shots over seven outward holes before ending with a pair of birdies.

“I’m disappointed the way I played the first four holes as I played some loose shots and also missed a couple of short putts,” he said.

“But it was a good finish, and four under par is still pretty high up there. It’s really pleasing to have such a strong finish, even though I wasn’t playing all that well”.