Harrington finds it hard against Big Easy

Padraig Harrington is three down to Ernie Els at lunch in their HSBC World Match Play semi-final and the Irish Ryder Cup player was is up against it.

As if taking on world number two and defending champion Ernie Els was not enough, Padraig Harrington was having to contend with a bruised and battered thumb at Wentworth today.

And at lunch in their HSBC World Match Play semi-final the Irish Ryder Cup player was three down and up against it.

It could have been much worse, though. Els, chasing a record-breaking sixth title and the £1m (€1.44m) which comes with it, missing six putts under 10 feet.

In the other match Lee Westwood came from one down to Ryder cup team-mate Miguel Angel Jimenez to lead by three after 16, the Spaniard having begun the day by beating his European captain Bernhard Langer two and one.

Harrington had smashed his right thumb against a tree trunk on the 27th hole of his quarter-final against Thomas Levet – another member of the victorious side in Detroit last month – yesterday.

He was three up at the time and despite the pain and the swelling giving him real problems he hung on to win with a last-green birdie.

The Dubliner, runner-up in the event to Ian Woosnam in 2001, had received treatment during and after the game and then waited to see how it was this morning.

The answer was badly bruised and still swollen – “worse than yesterday,” he said. But, much to his relief, it did not appear to have as much of an effect on his game.

Harrington, out in 34, went into the trees on the short 10th and failed to save his par, then bogeyed the 13th and 14th as well.

It was worrying at that point, but Els bogeyed the next two before asserting himself again on the long 17th. He chipped dead whereas his opponent three-putted from the fringe.

Harrington came off saying: "I'm doing well for a man with one hand - or rather one thumb! It was very much 50-50 before the start. I practised with the thumb off the club and it’s still awkward chipping and putting.

Earlier Jimenez had had to work hard to knock out Langer, conqueror of world number one Vijay Singh in the first round.

The gap was down to one when the Malaga player, with four wins under his belt already this season, double-bogeyed the 33rd, but two holes later Langer could not match his opponent’s birdie.

“Bernhard played probably the best he had in the match this morning and it was tough,” said Jimenez, while Langer commented: “I fought hard, but I guess I was a bit tired yesterday – the fatigue factor set in after 40 holes.”