Harrington shrugs off neck injury

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON suffered a recurrence of a long running neck injury but shrugged off the concern despite an adventurous first round in the Barclays Singapore Open.

Harrington revealed he injured his neck on Monday while in the gym ahead of carding a two-under par 69 on day one of the rain-affected event in Singapore.

The triple Major winner eagled the sixth on the Tangong course at the Sentosa Resort but, six holes on, the Dubliner sent his drive out-of-bounds to finish the day six strokes behind the leading pair of England’s Chris Wood and Korean Bi-o Kim.

A tropical downpour early in the day saw just over four hours lost to play with Shane Lowry, the first player out in the $US6m at 7.30am, not finishing his round to 4pm.

Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin heads the nine Irish in Singapore in carding a six-under par 65, while Darren Clarke had just 28 putts in a five-under par 66.

Also on five under par, but with a dozen holes still to play, was Graeme McDowell.

Maybin continues to benefit after teaming last month with Irish-born caddy, Darren Reynolds, who was Paul McGinley’s former caddy. Three weeks into the relationship, Maybin found himself in the final round of the Andalucian Masters tied for the lead with McDowell before carding a 76 to McDowell’s 74.

It was the Maybin’s third second place finish and his second this season since joining the Tour full-time last season.

And with Reynolds assistance, it seems Maybin could soon become the newest Ulsterman to capture a Race to Dubai event.

“You have to make your score on the shorter Tanjong course and I’ve managed to do that before we head to the tougher Serapong course,” said Maybin. “But Darren’s been a big plus, extremely experienced, and while I have had a couple of other good caddies on the bag, including Davy Jones, I do feel as though I gel better with Darren.

“Darren’s just making a huge difference to my game, and also in many ways, having him on the bag sort of freshens things up, and fortunately I’ve landed a good one”.

Harrington, despite this latest injury, declared he’d shaken off the concern.

“I hurt my neck in the gym on Monday and I’ve been struggling with my co-ordination, so I’ve had trouble out there,” he said.

“But I’ve seemed to shaken it now, and it’s just that my timing is a bit out, and I hit a few loose shots. What is more pleasing is that we managed to get finished tonight and not have to come back so early in the morning.”

Lowry was up at 5am catching the later stages of Manchester United’s dour draw against Manchester City before making his way to the course to tee-up first in the event at 7.30am.

However, Lowry had only played a few holes when the downpour flooded the course.

The former Irish Open winner eventually walked off at 4pm with a two-over par 73 on the tougher Serapong course.

“It’s been a really long day given I was up at five but I really played well today but I hit three poor tee shots that cost me,” he said.

“Other than that I played okay but just didn’t hole a putt.”

Gary Murphy was two groups behind but was soon back pedalling in dropping six shots in a four-hole stretch from his second on route to a disappointing eight-over par 79.

Murphy received an invitation to compete in the event and admitted this was his ‘Last Chance Saloon’ in a bid to hold onto his card.