Putter lets Rory McIllroy down

Rory McIlroy’s putting might have let him down but Pádraig Harrington jumped to the world No. 3’s defence after he appeared destined to miss the cut in the Honda Classic.

As Shane Lowry also struggled on the greens in the afternoon winds, carding a five over par 75 to slip 10 shots behind leader Rickie Fowler on two over par, McIlroy appeared doomed to miss his second successive cut at PGA National and his first since the Irish Open at Royal County Down nine months ago.

Winner of the Honda Classic in 2012 before walking off the following year, the 26-year old Co Down man has now missed the cut two years running at the Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens.

But while it was his wind game that let him down last year, it was his short game and putting that failed him yesterday as he shot a second successive 72 to miss the cut on four over par.

Playing alongside Harrington and Open champion Zach Johnson, the Holywood star still impressed the Dubliner, who staged a remarkable comeback of his own to make the cut, going from six over after just two holes to one under with three to play thanks to seven birdies in an 11-hole stretch.

A bogey-par-bogey finish for a 68 left Harrington a little deflated but he had kind words for playing partner McIlroy, who had 30 putts and racked up a double bogey five at the par-three 15th and a triple bogey six at the par-three fifth, his 14th, to delay his planned return to world No. 1 before the Masters for another week at least.

“He struck the ball well, hit the ball very nicely,” said Harrington, who admitted he was reaching for his mobile phone to book his own flight home after starting his round with a bogey and a double bogey.

“Over the years people would say Rory doesn’t like playing in the wind. Well, he looked well capable of doing it this week.”

A big gallery gathered to watch McIlroy in the marquee three ball at 7.45am but the foreword all came from Harrington, who opened with a three over 73 and then soared to six over by following an opening bogey at the 10th with a double bogey six after a visit to water at the 11th.

The Dubliner spent Thursday evening on the putting green experimenting with a new set-up that ended up paying dividends despite a bogey-par-bogey finish.

“It’s hard to believe I am disappointed,” Harrington, who holed 90 feet of putts as he birdied the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th to turn in two under.

“I was reaching for the phone to change my flight as I was heading for the 12th tee,” he said with a grin. “Then I forgot about it.”

A change in his putting set up — he decided overnight to hover his putter higher than normal — looked to be a failure after the first two holes. Then everything changed.

“I missed one from four feet on the 10th and hit a decent second into 11 and ended up in the water and lipped out with the chip for par,” he said. “Then I started holing the putts I haven’t been holing.

“If you make seven birdies you are going to hole some putts. I didn’t find any trouble all the way through to my last four holes when I lost my rhythm. I ran out of steam.”

Rickie Fowler carded a second successive 66 to lead by a stroke from Jimmy Walker on eight under par with Sergio Garcia (69) a shot further back on six over.

Graeme McDowell ground out a 69 to make the cut on level par and give himself chance of remaining inside the Top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings who qualify for next week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.

Needing a decent finish there to have any chance of making the Top 64 in the world who qualify of the WGC-Cadillac Match Play, McDowell said he was trying to block the mathematical scenarios out of his head.

“I saw what panicking does to my game last year and it is not very good,” he said. “I have just got to let it happen.”

As for the US Ryder Cup meeting at Jack Nicklaus’ house on Wednesday night, McDowell is bracing himself of a US Ryder Cup backlash.

“I feel there is a US beating coming down the road and hopefully we can delay that as long as possible because they are awfully good,” he said.

Skipper Davis Love and around 25 players, including the injured Tiger Woods, turned up to hear Nicklaus speak.

Jimmy Walker revealed: “I only talked to Tiger for just a couple of seconds and said to him ‘Whoah! You’re standing up and you’re not dead!’

“Tiger responded: ‘That’s how everybody thinks I am now, dead!

“So it was good to see he made the effort to be there but when and if he comes back, well we didn’t talk about that. It was just great to see him there in the room with everyone.”