Pádraig played through the pain

HE MAY be heading home from the Masters but Pádraig Harrington refused to bow to the neck injury that ruined his Augusta dream.

Despite the injury picked up during his first-round warm-up and sending him to a seven-over-par 77 on Thursday, there was no way Harrington was going to miss his second round at Augusta National.

And even though the Irish three-time major winner was improving his score, two under for the day playing the back nine, it looked as though he was heading out of the competition at the halfway stage, deeply disappointed having arrived at the first major of the year with such high hopes.