Harrington digs deep to keep Irish Open weekend hope alive

ANGLE OF ATTACK: Padraig Harrington lines up a putt on the third green at the Horizon Irish Open Golf Championship at Mount Juliet. 

Pádraig Harrington won’t win the Horizon Irish Open this week but he produced a superb finish to his second round on Friday to all but guarantee his presence for the rest of the weekend.

Two-under par after his first round, the recently crowned US Senior Open champion was in fine fettle after his first nine holes this morning, three birdies being diluted by a single bogey at the 14th, his fifth.

He was looking up rather than down at that point but another bogey on the fourth was followed by a double at the seventh to leave him just one-under for the tournament and two shots below the then projected cut.

To pull two birdies out of the bag at that stage was gutsy.

“I look at the first two days and I should be eight-under par. I played fine but there I am. I never thought I was struggling to make the cut until I actually was struggling to make the cut but I played comfortably.

“I hit a careless shot on four and made bogey, then three-putted the fifth and all of a sudden then I didn’t hit a good shot on eight, it went long and I made double bogey with a drop.

“I went from thinking I could get myself to six-under par and be well in this tournament to struggling to make the cut, which is kind of the way it has been for the last number of years.” 

That cut-off point has since dropped to two-under now that the rain is finally beginning to fall having threatened throughout the tournament to date and with the majority of the overnight leaders only getting going at lunchtime.

Adrian Meronk took the clubhouse lead after the morning’s business with the Pole carding a second successive 67 to sit on ten-under par. Spain’s Jorge Campillo has since gone one better to assume the summit at eleven-under par after a solid 68.

England’s Aaron Rai is also done for the day after a 70 that leaves him three shots back while defending champion Lucas Hebert sits on seven-under, four off the lead, after his own 68.

Seamus Power and Niall Kearney are among the later starters. Both Irishmen signed for four-under 68s yesterday and will be hoping to keep pace with the leaders ahead of the weekend.