Harrington lets it slip

WHEN you have worked hard and fought a dodgy swing to stand three under after 16 holes in the first round of the PGA Championship at Wentworth, you are perfectly entitled to dream of a score in the mid 60s given the last two are par fives reachable in two.

To walk off a half hour later with nothing better than an even par 71, having finished 8, 5, comes as a serious shock to the system and while Pádraig Harrington wasn’t writing off his chances of becoming the first Irishman to capture the PGA title since Harry Bradshaw back in 1958, deep down he had to know his prospects of figuring in the shake-up on Sunday were already a little remote.

It’s not that the quality of Harrington’s striking deserved a whole better. He had as many as seven out of single putts to atone for a few loose tee shots and approaches that hadn’t left the middle of the club.