Harrington's Open chances blown off course

Padraig Harrington’s chances of winning a third consecutive Open Championship were blown firmly off course in today’s third round at Turnberry.

Harrington, seeking to emulate Peter Thomson’s Open hat-trick of 1954-56, made the cut by a single shot, lying eight strokes off the pace on three over par following rounds of 69 and 74.

The 37-year-old had certainly not given up the ghost, insisting after his second round he could still win if “one thing turned around”, and got off to the perfect start with a birdie on the first from 10ft.

However, he then missed from similar range on the second, three-putted the third for bogey and dropped another stroke at the par-five seventh, where Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy made an eagle three in the group behind.

A double bogey on the eighth took Harrington out in 38, and further bogeys on the 12th and 14th meant the three-time major winner was eight over par and 13 shots off the lead.

Harrington, of course, came from six shots back going into the final round of his first Open triumph at Carnoustie in 2007, but having missed his last five cuts in Europe and America before this week, there appeared virtually no chance of a repeat of such heroics.

That eagle aside, young Northern Ireland star McIlroy was also struggling badly, covering the front nine in 40 and also dropping shots on the 12th and 14th to slump to 10 over par.

The tricky scoring conditions – with a similar wind blowing to yesterday - meant it took just over four and a half hours for anyone to break into the top 20, Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee managing it with birdies at the fifth and seventh taking him to one under par.

Soon after Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell also improved to one under with a hat-trick of birdies from the fifth, while American Bryce Molder had set the early clubhouse target on level par after a round of 67.

The cut had come at four over par on Friday evening and claimed the notable scalps of Tiger Woods, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, David Duval and Greg Norman among others.

For Woods it was his first missed cut in 14 Open Championships and only his second in 49 majors as a professional.

The world number one dropped seven shots in six holes around the turn in his second round, and even birdies at the 16th and 17th were not enough to prevent a rare early exit.

The final group were not due out until 3pm, with 59-year-old Tom Watson - seeking a remarkable sixth Open title – playing alongside Open rookie Steve Marino, the world number 77 experiencing his first links golf this week.