Harrington recovers from slow start in Paris

Padraig Harrington was showing signs of getting back on track at the Vivendi Cup as he attempts to find some form ahead of next weekend’s Ryder Cup.

Harrington, without a tournament win in two years, only just made the cut in Paris after a miserable two-over-par round of 74 yesterday.

That left him 11 strokes adrift of halfway leaders John Parry and Jarno Sandelin, and the three-time major winner fell further behind as he bogeyed the first at the start of his third round, his second on the Marly Course.

He corrected that with a birdie at the third but followed that up with a double-bogey six and a bogey five at the fourth and fifth to drop to one over for the tournament.

But the 39-year-old rediscovered his composure with the putter as he picked up four shots between the seventh and 11th to get back to three under.

Scotland’s Callum Macaulay and France’s Benjamin Hebert were two of the big movers of those out on course early, moving to four under for the day through 16 and 14 respectively.

Macaulay, also playing the Marly Course, started with two bogeys but was soon into his stride as five birdies and an eagle at the ninth, tempered by a bogey at 15, saw him jump 35 places up the leaderboard.

Hebert had been five under through 11, not dropping a single shot, but he bogeyed the 14th to lie level with Macauley at six under for the event.