Harrington facing uphill battle

PADRAIG HARRINGTON faces a battle to resurrect his fortunes at the St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind, Memphis, after carding a second-round 74 that leaves him well off the pace.

Double bogeys at the fourth and 11th holes were primarily his undoing, as he finished on four over for his round, slippin one under par overall.

Fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy fared far better, after a nifty 66 that leaves him near the top of the leaderboard at five under par.

McIlroy prefers to go into a major championship off being competitive, and he certainly is that for the US Open in Pebble Beach next week.

“It doesn’t matter what course you’re playing,” McIlroy said. “If you’re hitting good shots, you’re hitting good shots.”

McIlroy hit plenty of them yesterday, finding 10 of 14 fairways and a dozen greens in regulation en-route to a bogey-free round with a couple of birdies on each side.

He also rolled the ball extremely well, making 16 of 17 putts from inside 10 feet and two putts over 10 feet.

For the week, McIlroy is seven-for-seven from 5-7 feet.

“It’s a great set-up,” McIlroy said. “It’s a really good test bearing in mind the US Open is next week. It definitely tests all aspects of your game.”

As for choosing to play in Memphis rather than prepare at Pebble Beach, a course McIlroy has never played before, he said, “You can play as much as you want or practice as much as you want, but once you get a card in your hand it’s a different feeling.

“Nothing can prepare you for the weekend of a major; when you’re in contention that’s the best way is to be hitting shots under pressure.”

Lee Janzen knows exactly how important the putter can be when the rest of your game is struggling.

“I haven’t hit very many greens, but also I’ve rolled the ball really well, made a lot of par putts and some other longer ones, too,” Janzen said after a 66 yesterday that leaves him at six under heading into the weekend.

“It’s been coming along. Been working hard on it.”

Janzen has only 49 putts through 36 holes and made every one of his 14 putts from inside 10 feet.

“Nice to be playing on the weekend,” Janzen said. “It’s just one shot at a time, and we’re halfway there and today was a good day. Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully it’s a good day.”

Robert Karlsson was delighted to shoot a 66. It was nearly a year ago that the Swede discovered he had an injury that nearly caused him to give up golf. Fluid had built up on the retina in his left eye and everything, including the golf ball, started to look blurry.

As a result, Karlsson missed four months and even contemplated retirement when the condition hadn’t improved after 2 1/2 months.

“When I first saw the eye doctor, he said it’s not dangerous as long as you get rid of it right away,” said Karlsson.

“The first question he asked was ‘What is your job?’ I said, ‘I’m a golfer,’ and he said ‘How good are you? Can you afford to take time off?’”

During that time off, Karlsson played just 36 holes from the last week of May 2009 to September of that year.

“It wasn’t easy to come back,” he said. I told myself if I never play another round again, I had a pretty good career if this is it.

“It’s almost as if I relaxed a bit when that happened, when I became friendly with that thought.”