Adam McKendry reports from Ballyliffin
A DOUBLE BOGEY at the 18th completed a horror second round for Pádraig Harrington, who missed the midway cut at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open after being in contention after day one.
Harrington started the day four-under par, but he capitulated on the front nine to make the turn at one-under before slipping to two-over, one shot over the cut mark, meaning he misses the weekend.
The Irishman three-putted on three occasions and, despite hauling himself back to level par going onto the last — needing just a bogey to make the cut — he three-putted for double.
It’s an agonising miss for Harrington, who had been upbeat about his chances after Thursday’s stunning 68, the best score from a local golfer on the day.
But it all fell apart quickly for the 46-year-old this afternoon as he bogeyed the second, failed to birdie the very short par-five fourth and then added another dropped shot on the fifth.
The first three-putt came on the ninth which yielded another bogey, and the second came at the 13th, which contributed to a double-bogey after Harrington lost a ball on his way to the green.
He compounded that with a bogey on the next hole, the par-three 14th, but he restored some hope with back-to-back birdies at the 16th and 17th — the former of which came after he sunk a 40-foot putt.
But, needing to score just five or less to make the weekend, Harrington only made the green in three and then proceeded to race his first putt well past, leading to that third three-putt and him outside the cut line.
“It was a tough day,” a despondent Harrington said. “I didn’t get anything out of my good shots, hit some bad shots, couple of three putts here and there.
“I had a feeling I could get back into it on the back nine, I had a few chances to make birdie but losing the ball on 13… you’re thinking on the tee, get to three-under par and you’re four off the lead, all of a sudden you make double bogey and you’re on the cut line.
“I never really had the pace of the greens today. Two or three putts cost me dearly. I three-putted three times, so I’m a bit disappointed with that. Just not a good day on that.”
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy finished his second round with back-to-back bogeys which leaves him seven shots off the midway lead held by France’s Matthieu Pavon and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
McIlroy started his round on the back nine, carding six straight pars to start, before he found a fairway bunker on the 16th which led to a bogey, although he immediately bounced back with a birdie at the par-five 17th.
Good birdie chances slipped by at the first and second, before a short eagle putt also missed on the fourth, which still led to a birdie, but he immediately gave it back at the fifth when he took two out of the bunker.
Despite gaining a stroke at the sixth, it was a horror finish for McIlroy as he tangled with the rough twice on the final two holes, leading to two bogeys and leaving him well adrift going into the weekend.
The day belonged to Van Rooyen though, who shot the lowest score of the tournament thus far as he tore the course apart with a seven-under par 65 as one of the latest finishers of the day.
Van Rooyen carded eight birdies, six of which were on his back nine — which was the front nine as he started on the 10th — as he ensured he’ll be among the last two groups in Saturday’s draw.
He’s joined at the top by Fox, who had another strong day on the links, carding a second round of five birdies and two bogeys in a three-under 69 to back up Thursday’s round to sit top with Van Rooyen and Pavon at eight-under.
Pavon added a second round 68 having shot the same on Thursday, with his stunning round in the Friday sunshine featuring an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys.
Joakim Lagergren was the leader for a long time on Friday after he set the mark at seven-under par, the Swede making six birdies and two bogeys in his second round of 68, and he’s joined on that mark by Erik van Rooyen.
Former Masters champion Danny Willett is at six-under par after he shot a sparkling second round of 70, with fellow Englishman Sam Horsfield and South Africa’s Zander Lombard on the same score.
Of the other local hopefuls, Shane Lowry and surprise performer Simon Thornton are on two-under par, while Ruaidhri McGee finished level and Paul Dunne made the cut on the mark at one-over par after a second round 72.
Gavin Moynihan, at +2, agonisingly missed the cut by one stroke, with Paul McGinley and Cormac Sharvin finishing at three-over, and it’s an early exit for Colm Moriarty (+4), Darren Clarke (+7) and Neil O’Briain (+8).
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