Harrington in the hunt at Doral after impressive second round

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON was four shots behind leader Ernie Els after moving into contention on six under following a four-under 68 yesterday, in the second round of the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, Miami.

Harrington’s only 2009 win came in the non-Tour Irish PGA but he was making no promises about putting that right this weekend.

Harrington has dropped to 13th in the world with nothing better than a 16th place finish in four starts so far this season. With that in mind he said: “I have a tradition, unfortunately for me, that I don’t normally win out of the blue. It’s very rare. I normally warm up by getting into contention a few times.

“I’m happy with my scoring, but I made a few mental errors out there and missed a few putts. Obviously, though, I hit enough good shots and I seemed to have a lot of reasonable chances for birdies.”

Harrington, paired with Ian Poulter, finished their day’s work just before the first of two thunderstorm delays, officials wisely having brought forward tee-times to get in as much play as possible. Eighteen of the 68-strong field were still to complete their rounds when the second suspension came including Phil Mickelson at four under with one to go and playing partner Rory McIlroy down on five over.

Meanwhile after a year in which he failed to win for the first time since his rookie season in 1990, Ernie Els has given himself a great chance to re-ignite his career. On 10 under par at halfway, the 40-year-old is one in front of Australian Robert Allenby.